Return to Corpulous Prime

Finished up the Mawloc although I've not taken a decent picture of it so... more on that later!

I'm at the annual(ish) 10 days of 40k event that my old gaming group still throws. In addition to a cool campaign there are several days of painting and construction. Typically a ton of new terrain gets built and painted along with several new units for each player. There should be a super update when its all done, and maybe a few while its in progress.

Last year the campaign events took place on Corpulous Prime ,an Imperial world falling to the forces of Chaos, that hid The Sacred Heart. The sacred heart is an artifact of unknown origin and uncertain purpose but apparently valuable to several factions; many of whom sent elements racing to recover the Heart before the planet descended completely into the nightmare of Chaos. As luck would have it the Dark Eldar Kabal of the Blood Reign snatched the prize from the hands of the escaping Imperial forces just as they were about to load it onto the last evacuation vessel. The Kabal fled inot the Webway as the devolving planet completed its transition from an Imperial industrial wasteland to a world of terrible bloody whimsy.

A year later the hunt for the Sacred Heart is renewed.

Mawloc up

I got a couple of hours to work on the Mawloc. The kit is really well thought out in terms of assembly and I was able to do the basic painting with the model partially assembled in three major sections. This is not quite complete yet but I'm hitting the road to attend the annual Apocalypse game with my old Rogue Trader era gaming group. I'll be out of town for about two weeks with this and will finish up the Mawloc while I am there. This thing painted up very fast ( I just started it two days ago) due to the ease of access to areas that are usually obstructed. At this point all that is left to do is the final couple of highlights for the carapace and finsihing off the base.

I'll also get the Sisters Fortress named and get the base done for it this week. I'll likely finish it up entirely before the trip is over. Since the Mawloc has proven to be such an easy build I'll probably Do a Trygon and a Trygon Prime next probably concurrent with a Crusher Carnifex.

Sisters' Fortress AA defense

Azdrubael Vect is completed for the moment. I elected to swipe the Incubi Guards for other duties and may replace them with regular Incubi at a later date. For the moment leaving the Incubi off the model makes it a lot easier to handle and move around the table. I have not yet decided if it looks unbalanced without the Incubi. Work on the Sisters' Fortress continues apace. I worked on the AA defense turret and the Holographic Command Table for the CIC. I initially did the table in a typical dark Gothic antique metal finish but am now thinking that it looks too dirty in comparison to the weapons etc. I had thought that the technology would be dirtier and more weathered due to its aura of mystery and the low availability of techs to interact with it. I'm still turning this over and may decide to clean it up more and color it in the Order's livery though, for the moment I'm treating it as property of the Mechanicum... and neglected property at that.

I'm still chewing over names for the Fortress as well. Preferably something that is sort or acronyms into something short for ease of reference and makes sense within the Fluff of the Order of the Ebon Chalice. Like Rock of the Cup (RoC) etc... Probably avoiding Rock just because its been used a lot in other high profile stuff. I'd love some suggestions!

Azdrubel progress

Work is progressing well. The main component painting is to a stage where assembly can begin. I'd originally thought I'd magnetize the platform on top of the main hull to make it removable for storage and transport but the design of the side guns makes that a bit more tricky than I was prepared to attempt so I'll likely just make that a solidly attached construct. My other dilemma is the two caped Incubi guardians. I'd really like to use these guys as Incubi Masters in the regular retinue and just swap them out with some surplus Incubi figures. I'm wrestling with attaching these magnetically to the vehicle and keeping a separate magnetic base so I can use them in other roles as required. Ultimately I think I have enough extra Incubi that I may just do the swap and glue it all up solid. While I thought about it I started (and nearly completed) 8 Dark Eldar warriors to use for additional sniper squads. Among other tweaks I added the last time I worked on this army was six raider vehicles but I failed to add any additional infantry so this is some compensation for that.

This week I start laying out the interior details of the Sister's Fortress. I'm really Looking forward to this stage of the project! I think I need to name the thing something other than "The Sisters of Battle Fortress" to make the fluff more satisfying and to make it a bit easier to talk about. Unfortunately I need to pause and work on the base footprint of the project and, while I'm at it, do the same for some other building and fortifications that I've constructed components of but have not yet based.

On the Flames of War front I started work on two Grille H SP Infantry Guns. These are base coated Middlestone (Vallejo) over black and I'm ready to do the tracks.

Juggers done

Its been a hectic week with almost no time to work on projects. I finished up the Juggernaut unit in 10-15 minute increments.

In retrospect the standard cloth would have been more effective in another another color. I like the flowing surface of it but the whole thing ends up just a bit too red. On the bright side I've left plenty of room on the Standard to add battle honors. Maybe a different red shade would have been enough though I tend to think maybe a white or a black base with red effects instead of orange on red. In general though it'll do for a tabletop unit. While working on the riders I hit on a more satisfying gold process that has the dual benefit of being easier and looking better that what I was doing on the Juggers themselves. For the gold on the riders I used a Shining Gold (GW) higlighted with Rustungs Farbe (Fantasy Forest) then washed once or twice with Grypohonne Sepia (GW) and retouched lightly with Rustungs Farbe. I'm still sorting out taking decent pictures but you should be able to get an idea from the horn caps on the rider.

Next on the plate is to wrap up Azdrubael Vect and then hit the Sister's Fortress hard