The Sons Of Gorgax

As a part of this brief series of recaps - what I have been up to in the past three years, basically - it is my pleasure to present to you, the imaginary reader, my SONS OF GORGAX! Now, these chaps started life as The Sons Of Entropy (and will become so, once again), but they were a hotch-potch of different Chaos Space Marine kits and were painted in a wildly disparate range of painting abilities. Some of the models were among my first proper attempts at unit painting, whilst others were more proficient and involved weathering and the like... And so I decided - just like with my Blood Angels - to restart them from scratch. I used a couple of Burning Of Prospero box sets to equip myself with a good old pile of MkIII Power Armour and set to re-imagining my army. This time with far less of a Chaos-y influence...

Here, for starters, is my Chaos Knight! This chap was acquired back when the Chaos Knight kit was only available through Forge World. I really like this model, although I don't get to use him very often. The base has weirdly warped now, though, so I will need to sort that out before he sees the light of day once again...

Similar things apply to this: my Spartan Assault Tank! It's great! And ENORMOUSLY heavy, seeing as how it is pretty much a solid block of resin. I don't get to use it very often though, unfortunately, as it is so expensive in terms of points.

My metal boxes continued with this: my revamped Chaos Vindicator. Previously, it was flat, dull and uninteresting, but I brightened up its paintjob, gave it some nice, bright hazard striping to the dozer blade, and I gave it plenty of weathering (oh, and some transfers, too!) It was fun! Still haven't used it since the repainting, though...

And ditto to this Land Raider! You may notice a growing trend, here... To be honest, most of my games of regular 40K are around the 50-75PL (which I guess equates to 1000-1500pts or thereabouts), so a Land Raider is too expensive to use in these kind of scenarios.

This chap HAS seen the light of day, and he was good fun. In fact, I have another two of these lurking in my Box Of Shame, and why I haven't gotten around to constructing them yet, I don't know. They're fun to build, paint and play with - what's not to love?

But THIS is where things became a lot more useful. My key colour scheme for the Sons of Gorgax is the triad of green, purple and brass. Specifically, Vallejo Heavy Khaki, Xereus Purple and Vallejo Rust. At the time, I thought I was spending ages painting these line infantry guys, but in hindsight I managed to whizz through them pretty quickly. The MkIII armour lends itself well to simple schemes, and it works pretty effectively, I think.

As I mentioned, these guys are trying to resist the more extreme aspects of their descent into Chaos, and are trying to master the forces of the Empyrean, rather than be manipulated by them themselves. We all know how that goes, mind... Still, this is reflected in the fact that these guys are a bit more orthodox in their appearance.

The Cultists, on the other hand... well, they're weak-minded mortals, and are starting to feel the effects of  Nurgle more keenly. Some mutations have begun to appear, and they are all generally a ragtag bunch of ne'er-do-wells. With Cultists it was ever thus.

And so, onto more interesting models! Here I have a Hellforged Leviathan Dreadnought, which I realised - not long after putting him together - was positioned atop an inappropriately small base. Hnnnnntz. That's something to work on in the future, I guess! This guy is a monster, though - and loads of fun to paint and play with.

This project was also great fun because I was able to paint up a load of different characters as part of the journey. This army was particularly good for that, as I was pursuing a particular theme: bridled Chaos. So there were hints of degradation, but the characters and commanders could still display their own original traits. A good example of this would be my Warpsmith - he's a Forge World MkIII Techmarine, and I kitbashed him a little to make him 40K-compatible. I think this dude works pretty well for an army that is essentially uses Iron Warriors rules.

This guy was originally a Primus Medicae - an event-only 30k model that I acquired from eBay. I loved the aesthetic of him, even though he didn't really fit into any of the traditional 40K Chaos Space Marine roles. His build just seemed so well-suited to a Nurgle army, though. I have used him as a Sorcerer, but to be honest I will mostly use him as a non-combatant character, simply to support the Chapter's backstory.

Whilst I polished off some of the new units, I also revisited some of the older ones, such as this Hellbrute. I needed to update the colour scheme to make it conform with the Sons of Gorgax, wwhilst his base needed to be updated to match the new troops. I was pretty pleased with the end results, if truth be told.

It was also a great chance for me to work through some of my older, unopened boxes in my pile of shame. These Chaos Bikers had been untouched for years before I decided I needed something to pop into my Fast Attack slots! I Plasma-ed them up so they have some punch on the tabletop, but in all honesty my main driving (geddit?) factor here was adding an extra splash of purple to the models - something the plasma coils on their guns gave me the opportunity to add.

And so, there you go. Not all of the army has been showcased here - that would take far too long - but here is something of a family photograph...

It's not everything, but it gives you an idea of the scale of things in this project. This, combined with my Blood Angels army, gives me about 10,000pts of painted 40K goodness, and that should be enough by anybody's standards...

...except I am a glutton for punishment! Earlier this year, I succumbed to my own internalised pressure and bought some Death Guard. I had received a handful of models for Christmas 2018, and once I painted them up, I was hooked. I set about having a hobby purge, and have amassed another wince list of embarrassing riches, made up of lovely new Death Guard models which will see me REVISITING the revisiting of the Sons of Entropy! The army above shall represent the army in their early stages, as the Sons Of Gorgax, in the latter years of M.41, but my new Death Guard army (and it is an army) shows them post-Dark Imperium and the emergence of the Cicatrix Maledictum. You will have to wait to see what I have been up to with them, though, as there was a lot that went on in the interim.... Watch this space...

Chaos Space Marines: Chaos Knight

I haven't been able to post anything up recently, for a number of reasons: first and foremost being that I have been constructing a lot of the old kits that I have had lying in boxes for ages, in readiness for the weeks and months ahead. Like a squirrel preparing for winter, I have been constructing vehicles and then burying them away in KR cases. One thing that I have been able to paint, however, is my Chaos Knight! And I must say, I'm glad that I have done it now.

This is the FW Chaos Knight kit - not a conversion - although many of the conversions I have seen on line are much cooler - and as such, there was a high percentage of resin involved in the model. I don't like resin. Not necessarily because of the material itself, but rather the moulding process that means you have to use a razor saw to cut things off their gates and such.

There is also the fact that you have to rely on superglue, rather than plastic glue, and with big, centrepiece models, there is always that fear that they could be easily broken.

I really enjoyed painting this guy, once I had overcome my fear of the resin. I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed painting it if it was dedicated to one of the fussier gods, like Tzeentch, but Nurgle allows for a sloppy paint job.

A lot of rust, dirt and mud has gone onto this model, and at times I wondered whether I should perhaps have just painted him entirely brown... But I think it worked out in the end.

I opted for the Thermal Cannon in the end, because... y'know... Thermal Cannon.

The Foereaper Chainsword was made entirely out of resin, which was generally fine, except for the interlocking mechanisms - otherwise known as the important bits - which were warped and/or needed heavy trimming. I got there in the end, mind.

I now have a centrepiece for my Sons Of Entropy Chaos Space Marines army! Excelsior!

Chaos Space Marines: Plague Marine Squad

Hoo-flipping-ray! I finally managed to finish off my entire squad of Plague Marines! They were certainly easy enough to paint, but by the end of it they felt a bit of a chore.

This first chap - the Champion - was painted waaaaaaay back in September 2014. For some reason - probably looking at the dodgy putting together of some of the models by the eBay seller I bought them off - I felt disinclined to pick them up for another 10 months. Yowsers!

So here they are, in all of their "glory". Most of these chaps have already featured within these pages, but I have included them for the sake of completeness. I shall let the grainy photographs speak for themselves.

Chaos Space Marines: Plague Marine #3

And thus, the slow, inexorable march of the Plague Marines continues, with this: my third (although, actually fourth) Plague Marine. This time, I've got a rootin'-tootin' Plasma-totin' guy.

For my Chaos forces, I decided that Plasma weapons should be lit with reds and oranges, rather than blues. Not only is this to distinguish them from their Imperial counterparts, but it also reflects the corrupting influence of the Ruinous Powers. It's also a small nod to the differing lightsabre colours in Star Wars.

Three down, three to go. Plus the Champion I had already painted, and we're ready to roll!

Chaos Space Marines: Plague Marine #2

Another day, another Plague Marine! For a unit that has provided me with so much hobby inertia for well over a year now, I am having a lot of fun painting them.

That might have quite a bit to do with my new-found love for the Citadel Technical Paints (yes, I know I keep going on about them!) I really can't praise them enough when using them for Nurgle Marines.

This chap has a Melta Gun, which will dovetail nicely with the Plasma Gun that the next chap will be toting. That way, I have a decent tank-busting unit which, when I stick them in a Rhino, will be able to offer a mobile threat to my enemies.

Here he is with his buddy from the other day - my collection of Plague Marines slowly grows...

Chaos Space Marines: Plague Marine

This week has been all about my Nurgle forces, which seems strangely inappropriate, given the lovely sunny weather we have been having. As a true disciple of Chaos, I opted to spend two hours out of the balmy sunshine, and instead I painted up one of my Plague Marines.

Really, I'm going to be whizzing through this unit. Not only do Plague Marines cope well with a rough-and-ready, slapdash paintjob, but I am also just generally not keen on this unit for some reason. I really don't know why...

Perhaps it is the fact that, whilst sat in my TO DO box, several of the Finecast models snapped, and I had to patch them up with regular Chaos Space Marine pieces. Maybe I object to Finecast models on general principle.

Chaos Space Marines: Chaos Terminator #2

Hurray! This final Terminator means that I have now completed a full unit of five of them, making them properly legal on the tabletop (previously I had three, and then four, but they included a Heavy Flamer). A fun denouement to my Chaos Terminators, here.

Once again, I used a Space Wolf head and pallid flesh tones to make this chap look like a true Veteran Of The Long War. He probably needs a few vitamins.

I used the Citadel Technical Paints for some added griminess - some Blood For The Blood God, Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion on his joints and weaponry make for some really fun and easy weathering effects. I was really pleased with the results.

Chaos Space Marines: Chaos Terminator

My unit of Chaos Terminators has been standing at 60% strength for aaaaaaaages (3 is the minimum unit size for CSM Terminators), and so it is with great relief that I have finally finished procrastinating and made moves to round the unit out. The fourth (of five) Terminators is this chap here with his twin Lightning Claws.

I gave him an Icon Of Despair on his back, because it offers both a bit of verticality to the unit, and a visual focal point. Also, I flipping hate the trophy racks that the Chaos Terminators come with.

As well as the trophy racks, I hate those goofy, tusked helmets that the CSM Terminators favour. To counter that, I used some grizzled Space Wolf heads instead.

I painted the Lightning Claws to match up with my Chaos Lord from the other week. Hopefully it should tie them together nicely...

Renegades & Heretics: Renegade Militiaman

I am just beginning with my forays into the world of Imperial Armour, and more specifically, Renegades & Heretics army lists. The other day I posted up a picture of my first Rogue Psyker, and today sees the first of the Grunts coming to parade.

The torso and head come as part of the Renegade Militia conversion set from Forge World, to accompany the Imperial Armour 5: The Siege Of Vraks Part 1 book, which has since been superseded by the compendium version. The legs and arms, meanwhile, are Cadian.

As with the Rogue Psyker, I tried to make this chap grubby and grimy. His homeworld of Balatha is a world built on the back of heavy industry and chemical processing, so he is dirty, pollution-smeared and... well... not very happy, I suppose...