Psy-Spikes

…and following on from Saturday’s post, here we go; Psychic Orb suppression spikes…..

I recently had a message asking:

Do you have any other Retributors models from the Astartes shorts?

I'm planning a Retributors Kill Team/Combat Patrol squad and there are still a few parts that I can find for it. Like the Knife, Helmet variant, Backpack and the Storage Pack that the spikes that are stabbed into the orb are stored in.

I made versions with the internal spike withdrawn and deployed, and then thought…this needs hands…

As the main unit is symmetrical, right hands can be made with a simple mirror in your slicing software of choice. I previous made Weapons available here and the Sphere available here. These were both quite popular, with 144 and 41 downloads respectively.

I’ve included a WIP of a backpack to carry the spikes - it currently only holds 3. The animation has it holding 5 but i made it ‘heroic scale’ so it can be identified in 28mm, as such, perhaps two people in an Impulsor Kill Team need to carry them.

Let us know your thoughts!

Handro's Orky Gubbinz

Wherein Handro realises he’s simply got too much Orky stuff…

Hey guys, remember me?

Alright, so with the Gorkamorka push on the front foot, I thought it only natural to massively overreach myself by attempting to kickstart my mechanised Ork army (Der H ‘I thought we weren’t allowed to talk about them?’). an abandoned, over-ambitious project (never!) from the mists of, ooh, say 2017, probably.

‘We’’s ready, where’s da rest ov da boyz?’

The plan is hopefully just plug away with larger units in the background whilst ostensibly ploughing on with Gorkamorka stuff, i.e. if I need to paint 7 boyz up for my mob, 3-4 more for a full unit is a no-brainer. If I want a new trukk/buggy (Der H ‘truggy?’) or a bike for a gang member, I might paint up (read, ‘start’) all my vehicles at once, or a unit of 3 bikes…

Killa Kanz!

Hmm, you know what? I feel a list (of shame) coming on…

Fings what are unda way:

Bosswagon

Buggy

Battlewagon

Truggy

3 bikes

Garok’s Gangerz (Morka gang ~4 models)

3 Killa Kanz

Looted Tank

15 Stormboyz + Zagstruk

5 Burnas, 5 Lootas

Deff Dred

3 Meganobz

Deffkilla Warbike

Boomdakka Snazzwagon

Big Mek w/ Shokk Attack Gun

Fings what av paint on ‘em:

Shoota Boyz squad

Warboss, squig + 10 Nobz

Runtherd + 10 Gretchin (although I still can’t find them!)

Painboy

Wazbom Blastajet (undercoated, still counts!)

Fings what ain’t even built yet:

Snikrot + Kommandos

3 more bikes

~10 Boyz

12 Snap-fit Boyz, for conversion

Flash Gitz

Fings what are ready ta fight!

Nob + 10 Slugga Boyz

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So yeah, hopefully that last section might grow. A bit. Possibly.

#returntoisstvan

Legio Cybernetica - Brother Handro's dive into giant robots!

If there’s one thing playing games in a 30k environment has taught me, it’s that the bodies of the noble Astartes are but grist for the mill of the heresy, and no matter how superhuman they may be against humans or Xenos, the Iron Hands have the right of it…the flesh is weak!

Join me as I dive into the world of servos and plastek brain wafer-chips to bring you big stompy robots…

(Der H: So you bought a Mechanicus T-shirt and realised you should probably start all those robots you’ve been hoarding….)

The Calix-Thanatar, not as good as the standard, plasma mortar-lobbing one, but way prettier. Also I hate Salamanders.

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Now I know what you’re thinking. Handro, Mechanicum are a bit…well, good, aren’t they? Yes, yes they are. You’ve grasped the practicalities of playing Mechanicum straight away! But obviously here at The Hobby Butterflies we like to think that fluff is equally if not more important and the lore behind the Mechanicum is some of the richest and most evocative of the 30/40k universe. Plus if you can think of something cooler than the line of Mechanicum models I’d like to know about it.

So we felt it was about time we had something 30K non-Astartes on the blog. We will both be churning out Mech and Imperial Militia forces over the coming months. (Der H: If we can find them in our piles of shame, that is!)

This is what the Castellax look like!

The initial plan is to complete a 1000 points Allies list for the upcoming return to Melos. So a Magos, 4 Castellax and the Thanatar need to be completed alongside a 3-strong unit of Vorax to accompany a Praevian consul. Plenty to be getting on with, but after that I fully expect to start requisitioning bigger, stompier robots from the forges of…y’know, I should actually get some fluff brewing…and from there, a long, slow descent into robotic madness…

Thought for the day: The flesh is weak, duh.

Handro.

Teaching someone how to paint...

(Brother Handro: do YOU even know how to paint?)

(Der H: Fnar fnaar fnaaar….)

So my girlfriend recently asked if she could paint something. RESULT! one might exclaim! I regularly teach people clinical knowledge/skills and the likes but painting is not something to which I profess any great skill! The opportunity, however, was too great to pass up!

Rooting around for something not too big, not too small, not to complicated, but detailed enough, and (Brother Handro: importantly…) not too expensive, was difficult! In the end my two, sorry looking purple contemptor dreadnoughts caught my eye. Lightly modified Plastic contemptors, resin weapons, a havoc launcher, and an upcoming event in which to use them, provided the perfect palate.

Simple techniques first, with drybrushing, washing and edge highlighting. All proved pretty easy for her. She has some experience in pottery painting, and found the whole process relaxing.

Names for things are a little tricky, but she soon learnt the basics. The basic steps done, we even tried some freehand marble!

It is interesting, given the range and variability in our own hobbies, how constricting a legion paint scheme can be. I was constantly met with “what colour should X be”; I suppose it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme, but if all my lascannons are black and silver, then a red one will look odd!

So far we are onto the weapons, then the havoc launcher and we’re done. I think I will go onto transfers and weathering - she seems eager to learn more!

After this I think I will give her some free rein and paint some blood and Plunder or some ArcWorlde - both games that I like but have seriously under-loved; hell, it might give me chance to use some contrast paints…

Der H

Emperors Children Siege Breaker - aka "Do I need another character?"

It is well known that I have too many HQ choices…(Brother Handro: Isnt it near 12 now…) but with the Narrative event of Purging of Melos coming up soon (July 2019) we need an ‘event character’.

This character will be discussed more closer to the event, but essentially is a stock centurion with 11 upgrade points. Other than this they cost nothing to the army list, and can progress during the event by surviving.

In my case i wanted a warlord that would fit with a Kakophoni heavy IIIrd company elite list. I also wanted him to be vaguely siege themed as (If I paint hard enough) I was going to have my Death Korps of Krieg Imperial Militia as a siege regiment with Ordo Reductor support (Der H: ….lets see how that goes eh?)

Behold my progress…

As you can tell there are a few bits from a few sources. The torso is from the Palatine blades kit. The head and left arm are from GWs own Slaaneshi upgrade kit. We have a right arm, pad and sword from the legion praetor set and a MKII Emperors Children pad on the shoulder. Some GW plastics in for the form of a chaos backpack, and a AoD dagger and Horn round him out. Phosphex bombs in hand and mag-locked to his legs complete the look!

I was going for a vaguely Joshua vibe from the battle of Jerico… double edged sword, spear (see below) Ram Horn, and suitable Slaaneshi parts to match. Leading a IIIrd company elite RoW force he fits in well, and depending on what else is in my list he may well see some action!

Because magnets are cool, I’ve equipped him to have paragon blade inter-changable with phoenix power spear - depends on my mood!

What do we think? Good? Bad? Ugly?

Der h

So you want to build ANOTHER storm eagle...

(Der H: Well not quite…he isnt that insane…but maybe I am…)

Soon after the crushing defeat that was game 5 of Throne of Skulls day 2 I went to the shop and bought the things…

Now, usually that is how the things would stay for, say, 6-8 months. But this time I wanted to build ALL the things. A day off gave me an afternoon free between the chores of adult life so I sat down to build some models. After a quick character-related warm up, I set about building a Storm Eagle…

As you can see the Krieg were pushed to one side, and the parts clipped, sanded, washed, and bent back into shape. Dreading the warp (Brother Handro: I see what you did there…) so frequently associated with this kit I straightened things during the wash and had both hair drier and heat gun at the ready. The first steps were easy enough, plastics fit into resin panels with ease if they can only fit one way! Pretty soon i was at the vital stage of fitting the door; now comes the serious work.

You may recall that at the Throne of skulls event last month we met Wrights Adventure Guild with an Emperors Children/Alpha Legion combo. James’ Storm Eagle was my new favourite thing ever….and although I’d seen the Shrine of the Aquilla conversion before, I thought James’ was perticularly good.

I had my wish list:

1) Eagle prow (obvs)

2) Maintain the ability to open/close the front door

3) Painted interior (at least the front)

4) Access to the rear interior.

The initial fit, after much swearing, gave a good cosmetic result, but the door wouldn’t really open anymore! The issue was one of the lower edge, and on opening it tended to foul the underside.

A little more whittling gave it the range it needed. At this stage the door was heavier and wouldn’t stay shut…to the magnets!

When approaching the rear I hit a snag. I couldnt seen any way of (easily) making the rear door open/close. The hinge wouldnt be that much of an issue, but the door was oversized by 4 mm, the hinge not the sturdiest, and the rear required some encouragement to align properly - massively helped by gluing the door. This poses two problems:

1) In order to see the inside of the rear portion the rear door must open OR the roof must come off.

2) If the roof comes off it is less sturdy, and the rear is likely to look less well aligned.

Options:

1) Build a new hinge for the rear door, paint separately, glue roof

2) Leave door attached, leave roof detachable, never look at the rear again

3) Leave Door attached and, after painting the front interior, glue it up for ever!

…Tricky descision.

This is how we currently stand! She is looking very tidy (Brother Handro: If you say so yourself…) and the door sits open nicely for a hot ‘combat drop’ from hover mode…

When sitting on her landing struts the door, unfortunately, doesn’t open; Ill have to put this down to a style thing…

She still needs a plan for the rear hatch, lots of filling and a base to be built, but we arn’t that far off! What do you all think?

Der H

Fulgrim (...finally)

Everybody loves a ‘pretty boy’….(Brother Handro: apparently! It’s not something we’ve dealt with often….) and in 30k there’s only one true choice…

(Brother Handro: *cough* Sanguinius *cough*)

…FULGRIM!

This beautiful model was released long ago, but I’ve simply not got around to buying him (Brother Handro: *looks around in disbelief surrounded by resin*). Finally, the wonderland/perpetual hell* that is the Heresy Trading Facebook group gave results in the form of an abandoned, part converted, Fulgrim.

The cloak sculpt is a thing of beauty, and the feathers are pretty tasty too!

Fulgrim, in game, can be run wielding either The Blade of the Laer or Ferrus Manus’ creation, Fireblade. The model only comes with The Blade of the Laer, which is beautiful in its own way, but in game terms Fireblade nearly always wins.

Blade of the Laer: Strength User, AP 2, Rending, specialist weapon, two handed

Fireblade: Strength +1, AP 2, Murderous strike (5+), specialist weapon, master-crafted

With the model only having the Laer blade, things went to Heresy Trading pretty quickly, with this as the result!

The G-Dubs mainstream Rowboat Girlyman has a lovely sword which is quite large, and certainly larger then the Laer blade from Forge World, but works well as an alternative.

The plan is to magnetise the swords, extract the fallen banner from the base to be carried by Phoenix terminators/Command squad, and to finish the sculpting on the cloak in the next few months…

…Painting however will take longer. Miles of Lil Legend Painting Studios has a fantastic series via his Patreon covering some techniques…guess I should get started!

What do people think? Does the larger sword look too big?

Der H