Chaos Daemons: Screamers Of Tzeentch

The Screamers are a bit of an odd model to paint.  Well, I guess they're a bit of an odd model, full-stop. The difficulty with painting them, though, is judging how much detail to go into.

In some ways they are super-easy, because they are effectively just blobs of energy spawned from the Warp, so you could do them as a single colour, but if you look closely, there are loads of tiny details to the model itself.

I opted for something in-between.  I made sure that the models featured a few of the details that make them so cool, but I didn't go to town completely on them.

EYES! THE EYES!!!

Chaos Space Marines: Chaos Cultists

The Dark Vengeance boxset is an absolutely fantastic starting point for anybody wanting to enter the world of 40K - both of the factions feature fantastic models, and the Cultists are no exception.

Whilst they aren't the multi-part plastic kits that many would have liked (and that we saw used later on in the Stormclaw boxset), these guys are great as they are, and easy to modify, should you wish to.

I painted my first two bands (there are two squads of ten in the DV boxset) as followers of Khorne and Nurgle, which I have shown here.  My Slaaneshi and Tzeentchian ones will follow later, so that all of the four powers are represented.

A couple of great Champions come with the set, and add a great bit of character to the group.

Some of my Nurglite followers, here... I've tried to give them a relatively distinct colour scheme.

Cultists were a big addition to the CSM ranks in 6th Edition, allowing cheap troops to be fielded easily.

What it did mean, however, was that regular CSMs started to become rarer and rarer on the battlefield.  Those are points that could be spent on heavier-hitting units.

Tau Empire: Fire Warriors

I'm not a big fan of the Tau as a race within the 40k universe, but I really like the aesthetic of their models.  The clean lines are a nice change from the grimdark.

I only painted these guys as an artistic challenge, more than anything else. I've never really painted yellow much.

"How the hell do I work this thing...? Maybe the batteries are running low..."

Inquisition: Inquisitorial Acolyte

The eagle-eyed among you may recognise this geezer as being from the old Stormtrooper kit - the metal Imperial Guard Kasrkin set. He's such a cool, hard-boiled model that I had to include him in my retinue somehow.

I used red as a spot colour on his carapace armour to tie him in with the rest of my retinue - the Psykers and Inquisitor both have flashes of red on them, as does my Servitor.

I really liked the Kasrkin models, and I was a bit sad to see them replaced by the Tempestus Scions, until I realised how awesome THEY were, too!

Blood Angels: Master Of The Choirs

I decided that I wanted to use one of the 'Masters' with my Blood Angels, who are, if not tainted by Chaos, then are at least mildly influenced by the corruption of Slaanesh.  As such, he's a pallid chap.

I've painted him in gold to mark his authority within the ranks of the Blood Angels, and given him a red cape because... well... duh!

Captain Sebrimel Asmodeus of the First Company of the Scions Of Sanguinius, ladies and gentlemen!

Space Wolves: Wulfen Skyclaw

After spending quite a lot of time finding some suitable heads and putting together and painting this guy, you can imagine how delighted I was to see the 'Mark Of The Wulfen' removed from the Space Wolf Codex the other month.  Thanks, G-dubz!

This head is from Maxmini (I think) - the range is okay, but a few of them look a bit too much like Monkeyan from Thundercats, rather than a Wulfen.

I am planning on having a few squads of Skyclaws in my Space Wolf army.  This plan was formulated as soon as I saw that you can have two meltaguns per five Wolves. Nice anti-tank!

You may well howl at the moon, boyo!  You've been de-Codified! Arooooooooo!

Chaos Daemons: Nurglings

Nurglings are some of my favourite Daemons in the 40K universe - they're neither particularly powerful, nor are they particularly effective... but they're FUN!

They're also really fun to paint.  You can spend ages on them, painting them rank by rank, and highlighting all of their boils and sores, or you can just paint them in one block colour and slap some washes on them - either way works just fine!

They're chock-full of character, as well - in the same way that the Plaguebearers are.  Nurgle seems to get all of the best Daemons, I think - whilst the fluff surrounding the other ruinous powers is very good,  the individual models of the Lesser Daemons can often lack a bit of the charm of the Nurgle ones.  All hail Papa Nurgle!

Chaos Space Marines: Chaos Lord Of Nurgle

A bit more Nurgle kitbashing today, although this is a bit more orthodox than the Beasts Of Nurgle - this here is my Chaos Lord Biker proxy - basically a Chaos Knight with added 40K CSM bits.

Basically, I wanted a guy to use the cool banner and shields that came in the Knight box set, and I find this guy a lot more impressive than a regular biker.

I didn't add a whole lot of things, to be honest - mostly just a few accessories from the CSM kit....

...and, course, the ubiquitous Nurgling!  No Chaos Lord should be without one, really.

Chaos Daemons: Beasts Of Nurgle

These are some of my favourite-ever homemade monsters - my Beast Of Nurgle proxies!  Suffice to say they cost a lot less than the £15 per model (is that around $25?) that GW ask for their regular finecast ones.

Basically, these guys are just made of a small sausage of clay (about thumb-sized) with some of the spare heads from the Plague Drones kit on top, and I put some clipped-off Chaos Space Marine horns into its body as tentacles.

I covered the clay with some Stirland Mud (the textured paint that GW sells) - this adds a bit of texture, but also covers over the roughness of the clay - and then painted it in a variety of shades of green and brown.

They're not as physically imposing as the GW ones, but I guess I saved myself £45 ($70)!

Inquisition: Ordo Malleus Inquisitor

Well, you've got to love an Inquisitor, haven't you?  If you don't, they'll no doubt burn you for heresy.  Here's my Ordo Malleus Inquisitor!  He's rather Astartes-esque, but that's allowed - the Inquisition come from all walks of life.  Plus, I only had Space Marine body parts free at the time, so that channels your focus, somewhat, I guess.

There are bits from the Grey Knights Strike Squad used here, as well as the Terminator set (for the book), the Dark Angels Veteran box set (a constant source of wonderful bits), and the head is from the fancy Librarian (you can see what I did with the rest of the body HERE).

An Inquisitor should always be laden-down with all manner of books, scrolls and accoutrements befitting a protector of the faith.

Including swords - plenty of swords!  In this case, Nemesis Force Falchions (which can double up as Force or Power Swords).

Always important, as well, to have some servo-skulls looming wherever possible.

And here he is with his burgeoning retinue - a Mystic and a bunch of Psykers!  Oh, and a Servitor, as well.  He'll probably get his own post at some point in the future...

Dark Angels: Brother Sergeant

Lo!  It's my Dark Angels Successor Chapter, the Adlerean Swords!  And here is my very first painted model for their force.

I opted for the same kind of bone colour as the Deathwing, because - let's face it - it's just cool.  The Deathwing were some of the first Space Marines I came across back in the early/mid Nineties, and their iconic look has stayed with me ever since.

If there are any Eastenders fans out there (I'm talking to YOU, UK-based visitors!) this guy looks a bit like Phil Mitchell, don't you think?

Space Wolves: Wolf Priest Redux

I originally posted pictures of this guy quite a while ago, but I doubt anybody will have seen it.  This is my converted Wolf Priest with Jump Pack!

He's based on the Finecast Chaplain, mixed up with a grizzled Flagellant head (once again, that kit comes up trumps!) and a lot of Wolfy bits.

He's going to accompany my Skyclaws into battle, which will be particularly fun if I give him the Wulfen Stone...