World Eaters! - Brother Handro's Work Bench - February 2021

What new, seemingly unconnected projects have we been working on this week?…

That’s right, apropos of nothing, World Eaters!

Well, not entirely from nothing. These boys have been kicking around for the best part of 2 years, until the majority of the stuff I had squirrelled away for some bright day where I’d magically start the project was actually folded in my first full, proper army, the Sons of Horus. (Lots of infantry, Assault squads, chainaxes…makes sense!) But that army did bring some indirect benefit - it was the first time I committed to airbrushing the whole army, infantry included, which is an obvious stumbling block when it come to painting the white armour of the World Eaters….

Fast forward a year or so and the #returntoisstvan campaign spearheaded on Instagram seemed as good a spur as any to finally start the XII Legion…

Gotta Go Fast!…

Another inadvertent benefit of delaying the project was getting used to the concept of painting in subassemblies, something we’d picked up from Adeptus Titanicus. This brings pretty obvious benefits when it comes to airbrushing models that are white and blue and never the twain shall meet.

Quick Mock-up time!

The final unintentional bonus came from my dabbling in oil washes on my Militia/Solar Auxilia tanks. Using oils as a recess wash (something I’ve already done with my first few Imperial Fists units) is a huge boon to armies that are painted in light colours, and airbrushed in general. The thought of trying to use washes and layers on Fists and World Eaters….(shudders)….they are equally useful for streaking and rust effects, which also looks extra nice on pale armour.

So that’s it for this month. Wonder what I’ll start next week?…. (Der H: I don’t want to even guess…)

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.

Brother Handro's Work Bench - January 2021

In which Handro briefly describes the random assortment of bits and pieces he’s been not quite finishing for the last six months…

I actually finished a titan…

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Y’know, flitting from one project to another on an almost daily basis goes without saying on this blog, but honestly I’m not sure I’d have it any other way. Some people have thousands of points worth of stuff for one faction or system all painted and ready to go and the luxury of being able to pick and choose your force from a pool of finished stuff is one I’m not overly familiar with (Der H ‘I’ll say….)’, but to me it will always be about keeping the hobby mojo going by knowing there’ll always be something lurking in the Hobby Cupboard of Doom (tm) to grab my attention…so without further ado, I give you….Handro’s stuff and things….

Not this one though…

So I’ve been mainly working on Adeptus Titanicus in the last few months. I cannot get enough of the models, and the New Year’s teaser images of a potentially new chassis give me impetus to continue the charge. It doesn’t hurt that my efforts spur on Der H to finally get on his Legio Fureans stuff either. (Der H ‘Alright, alright!…)

Or this one…

Aside from big stompy death machines, I’ve been airbrushing my 30k scale Knights (Der H ‘Errr….still big stompy death machines?’), building and starting to paint a Star Wars Legion clone army, and building a World Eater assault force. My newly-airbrushed Imperial Fists Zone Mortalis stuff is looking at me disapprovingly…

Looking after the new guy…

I’ve recently built some Ork vehicles for that Gorkamorka thing Der H always bangs on about…gives me a reason to dust off (literally) the piles of Ork stuff I’ve got lying about…

Orky 8-wheeler!

Seeing the awesome stuff Der H has got lined up, I’ll have to pull out all the stops for my Orky vehicle konvershuns….

Hobby Goals 2021

So since it seems to be the thing to do, I guess we should have some hobby goals! This blog started as a way to get us painting out backlogs, and what better way than shared shame…(Brother Handro: “Don’t you dare use that gif again….”)…Lets see what we want to achieve…

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Brother Handro

1: Titans!

If there’s one thing I’ve fallen in love with in the last few years it’s Adeptus Titanicus. (Owning, not playing, apparently…) I just can’t get enough of that not-quite Epic-scale goodness. Expect more legios than you can shake a rangefinder at!

2: Clones!

If there’s another thing I’ve got into, it’s Star Wars Legion! Although I love all the factions, I’m a big fan of the Republic so expect to see me wade through my clones painting white and various unit markings…we may even learn how to play it properly!…(Der H ‘Easy now, tiger…’)

3: zone mortalis!

By which I obviously mean His Imperial Majesty’s Most Glorious Fists…(Der H mutters something about iron cages under his breath..) Der H has been chugging away at his magnificent ZM board and the classic match-up of Iron Warriors versus Imperial Fists will be a suitably fitting clash for this deadly stage….

4: World Eaters!

Do you hear the voices too?! (Der H ‘sanity is for the weak!’) I’ve long harboured a dark ambition to do at least some justice to this famously annoying-to-paint legion. The core of the force is built, now I just need to muster the courage…

5: Orkses!

Hey remember when I bought a whole Ork army around the beginning of 8th Ed? Yeah….Der H wants to do Gorkamorka, and I do love a good mechanised infantry theme…alright I’ll do it!

Der H

1: …I mean, titans i guess….

Brother Handro has been suggesting (Der H “Strongly….”) that I should paint my titans for some time…they are all currently gun metal with shading and have panels in various stages of completeness. We bought in HARD at the start, and each have a grand master edition jsut waiting to be played…Legion Fureans is, as such, my number 1 completion for this year!

2: Death korps of krieg

Ok, this one is serious….its been here looking at me forever it seems! I’ve expanded it with some tanks, two bombards, a minotaur, and 10 OOP renegade ogryn. I have lists on battlescribe, I have fluff and a theme….but none painted….this shall not pass!

3: Oak and iron

Yet another Kickstarter I hit HARD in the last few years. Duplicate of everything they make has been sat unpainted for a long time. It did get a coat of white (Brother Handro “wow….easy there…dont want to peak at a Golden Daemon too soon”) in 2020, but nothing since. Citadel contrast paints seem to be the way to go, and they’ve been bought and ready for some time too. Thy need to get finished! I have started this already, so its jsut a matter of motivation, dedication and strict attention to…oh look, SWL…

4: Zone Mortalis

Yea we both need this…I bought the board on LCtB last year whilst waiting for my FRCA Ceremony! (Der H “My wallet hasnt recovered”) It is mostly painted except for details and stencils. a few good sessions and we’ll be done…..now….where did that ZM door STL file go…

5: Play some games

Ok, ok this one is a pipe dream….but COVID-19 has had a wide range of effects. My professional life has certainly changed! like all of us I miss gaming; I miss events (I think…) and I miss playing games with my buddy! 2021 WILL change this and we’ll be sick of learning when to brace for impact (and what game that even is…) again before too long…

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.

Legio Praesagius walks!

Presenting to you in all its glory the first completed model for Adeptus Titanicus, Arx Argenti, Thrice Blessed, of the World Eat...Legio Praesagius...

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Oh, how the faithful have waited for this day!...I mean, assuming we managed to get our hands on Grand Master Editions (Der H - Obviously we did!), otherwise it would have been a mighty blow to our campaign plans, but fear not, the Legios will walk!

The first finished Titan, Arx Argenti (Silver Fortress), also known as the Thrice Blessed; by the Emperor, by the Forgeworld of her birth (Gantz) and by the genius that saved me from throwing it out of the window when I realised I'd messed up building the legs...

Heraldry left blank optimistically in case of Praesagius transfers in the future...

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I may throw some FW weathering powders on the lower legs and feet to dusty them up a little...

Although I didn't enjoy airbrushing this model as much as my Sons of Horus stuff, the results were more than acceptable, and practice is practice! Be warned, painting all the trim of the 38(!?) armour panels may make your brain melt...I also used enamel weathering products for the first time, and they are...tricky to get used to. You need near-microscopic amounts, a bottle will last several lifetimes. Blending them in requires patience, otherwise you end up with horrible-looking, painted-on lines or blotches. White is hardly the most forgiving colour for this either!

On the plus side, I'm well pleased with the end result, and I'd back Arx against any other tabletop standard titan I've seen so far. (Spoiler, that's precisely none). The aim, as always, is to get models on the table, not agonise over mistakes or imperfections (Inb4 Der H makes an Emperor's Children joke)...also, my World Eaters test scheme is ready to go!

Dux Ferrum, the second God-machine, is already under construction in the sacred macro-forges, and is earmarked for the hard-pressed Legion Gryphonicus...

Handro. 

Adeptus Titanicus arrives!

So, like many of you, we have both been suckered int...dutifully bought the infamous Grand Master Edition of GW's new Adeptus Titanicus range, (Der H -'Did we not have enough to do?) and I couldn't wait to get started, getting a Warlord built on release day...of course it wasn't until 3 days later I realised I'd put the lower legs on back to front...

Airbrush stage finished, onto the nitty gritty...

It is definitely easier to paint the armour panels whist still on sprue, especially if you're airbrushing.

You will be heartily sick of painting armour trim by the time you finish...

...but once it starts to come together...

Starting to put some panels into place...

Slowly, slowly...

And finally a mock-up to check the leg plates all fit as they should...once the lower legs were the right way round...

This one is Legio Praesagius, but I expect to cave in and go full Legio Gryphonicus before too long...glad I got my World Eaters test scheme down though!...

Handro

So you want to build a Storm Eagle...

Short answer - don't.

Long answer...

FW resin, meet my friend Mr. Clamps...

Now this is how the Steagle sat on my shelf for nearly a year, which was long enough for the top rear panel to almost nearly not quite fit where it needed to be...Seriously, it was, and still is way out from where it ludicrously claims it ought to physically be able to exist. The fit is so bad, I eventually had to pin both sides of the fuselage to the floor, even after hours of heating and filing. Even then, the front ramp sits in a gap that is too big for it, requiring plasticard and Greenstuff to help out.

Further on....you can see that even the plastic on this kit is bent,  the front 'flap' of the cockpit housing the (absent) Multimelta is lifting away from the hull...You can also see that the resin differs in colour, depending on whether it had sat in the sun on my shelf or the darkness of the hobby cupboard for a year...

I had to remove significant amounts of the rears of the top wing parts (where the Greenstuff is in the above pic) just to get them in, the main issue being that the front plastic top panel just wouldn't sit in the right position, consequently shifting all the parts behind it out of position...The engines are pinned into the hull for strength, most of the weight is on the wings and rear of the model (which also causes 'issues' in terms of flying stand stability). Don't forget to pin the landing skids to their legs either, I didn't trust them to hold the weight of the thing alone. Magnetising is an option here.

Pretty much there!

Here she is, pretty much done and awaiting undercoat. What a labour of...well, it wasn't love, certainly. Bit of a grind, really!

Best of a bad job an' all that...

Here you can see the WIP 'Greenstuff covered in Liquid Greenstuff' phase of the project. Yeah. It looks better than this now, promise!

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Overall, this is a great looking model (remember the brick-like abomination this kit is based on) that is dragged down by horrendous warping and bad fit. Equally it's so rear-heavy extra attention will be required to get it to go safely (and/or semi-permanently) on its flying stand. God-Emperor knows how I'll transport it either. I can't really recommend the kit itself to anyone, never mind the inexperienced modeller, just get a Spartan instead. (Der H: Funny you should mention that...) It does pretty much the same job and is more survivable (on and off the battlefield). However, if you really want, or list restrictions require you to have a flyer transport, you don't have any other option in this price range...in that case, Emperor be with you.

Handro