Showcase Me!: Imperial Knight Krast Aligned Household (Dardan)

"It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. 

A half-century has passed since Earth

 began moving its burgeoning population

 into gigantic orbiting space colonies.

A new home for mankind,

where people are born and raised. And die.

Nine months ago, the cluster of colonies furthest from Earth,

called side 3, proclaimed itself

the Principality of Zeon and launched a war

of indipendence against the Earth Federetaion. [...]"

MSG 0079

    Hello friends! It's been a long time since we last got in touch, and I thank everyone for being here again despite the long period of lack of blog content. I moved to a new place and job, as you know, keeps too busy (thank goodness)!

    Probably some of you have noticed that my Instagram page hasn't been as inactive as the blog, since I have - even if in a less ongoing effort - continued to paint and especially play (job keeps busy, but playing saves our sanity). I posted some photos on the profile but no showcase... I really didn't have the time to work with the the camera to get better results.

    Today I finally cut out a moment to make some better shots and write a post. It's the showcase of my Imperial Knight Household, the Dardan (a minor House aligned to Chrysis' Krast), which I worked on in June.

    

Showcase Me!: Dark Eldar/Drukhari Scourges

"What could be finer 

than the soughing kiss of blade on flesh?

Come to me and I will love you

with such strokes as will make you swoon.

We will dance and caress with edges so fine

the very stars themselves are sundered 

by their divine movements."

- Qa'leh, Mistress of Blades, to Duke Vileth, in Ursyllas's Dispossesions

   So complicated, yet so fine. So complex and yet beautiful as the simplest thing is. Dark Eldar are, in my opinion, one of the greatest creations in the whole GW history and I always take my time to paint them: if you don't, you will end up in a mess. They are the only army I haven't painted at once, in recent years... simply because I can't. Few units, maybe one or two HQ at a time, nothing more.

    I hope, with this attitude, to do justice their incredible range and background. Today I'm sharing with you a small unit of Scourges with them, my winged killers!

Showcase Me!: Dark Eldar/Drukhari Succubus

"Friends and allies you call them?

Black-hearted traitors one and all, I say!

My reputation and my honor take precedence

 over their carping concerns.

I will pursue my vendettas as I will

For I am Vileth and I will not be constrained in my vengeance!"

- Duke Vileth to the fool Mecuto, in Ursyllas's Dispossessions

   Everything started with Dark Eldar... they were my first army and my first love. I started Warhammer back in '96 with Dwarves and High Elves but I was too young to understand what it could mean, at least for me. It was like throwing a little rock and wait in the following ten years to hear the avalanche incoming; and that avalanche started with Dark Eldar, a sort of revolution, a zero-point where my hobby became truly my Hobby.

    The new Drukhari codex is outstanding and, as I do any time a new Dark Eldar release pops out, I grabbed the occasion following inspiration and gaming to revamp and paint some of the hundreds of models I have from their range. 

    Today I have finally found some time to take a few good shots of my Succubus; her name is Vea Ulris and in my custom background she's the ruling lady of a major Cult called "of the Annihilation". Together with Illian Erya (Archon of my kabal, "the Masked Truth") and Valdamar Zatarblen (my Haemonculus from the Dark Creed coven) form what is called in Commorragh "The Trumvirate".

How I did it: Adeptus Mechanicus VTOL APC "Chauliodus" - part I

- Defence department project for tight geometry urban pacification. Rotors are configured to manouver between buildings without recirculation. It has a long uninteresting Wayne Enterprise designation... -

Lucious Fox

There's something better than making your own version of an existing model and it's making your own version of an non-existing model.

During one of the late night chats with the boys, a sentence was casually thrown on the table: "You know, Admech doesn't have any air support vehicles..." And was equally casually followed by an innocent "Well, how should it look like?"

Maybe something like this...

More Input: Building an Iron Hands Demi-company

-Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.

-Isador Akios

   Hi there my friends and welcome to this brief recap about my Clan Company Sorrgol project. It is supposed to be an ending post about my first demi-company based on them, although I have planned to paint and build more and create a full company; that will occur in time, since I'm already working on a new AoS project.

   I generally conclude a project with a huge background post, full of custom (and real) lore, but since I can't do anything like that for Clan Company Sorrgol (they already have a beautiful storyline written by some of the most talented BL's writers, so don't need mine), I decided to end the project, and the stream of posts about it, with a quick modeling/painting recap. 

   Here we go!

Iron Captain Adam Sideros

Leaving the Chamber: Trophy for Wracks at Grog '17!

   Hello friends, this post is about my recent partecipation in the XXXI edition of the Grog Painting Trophy, which took place in the last November (Lucca Comics main miniature and modeling competition, actually one of the greatest and oldest of Italy).

    Fist of all, happy new year to all of you, thank you for your support on our website and on instagram, we wish you a great modeling 2018 ahead!

How I did it: Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought

- I have seen worlds burn and crushed nations underfoot, torn down the idols of false gods and slaughtered kings like cattle. Presume not to order me, tiny man, for I am war, and you are no more than chaff before the scythe... -

Venerable Targas

   Ok! This is not meant to be a whole long, boring, tutorial on every single move I did on my Iron hands Redemptor Dreadnought, but instead a smart look on some of its details, such as its base, positioning etc. If you want to start anew the model following some good (and fast) adivices to create black foundations and weathering I suggest you to have a look here, before reading this post.

   

Showcase Me!: Iron Hands Clan Company Sorrgol (demi-company)

- We must learn to pace ourselves. Tactical restraint. To hit and run, and not to be greedy and trust in overwhelming power as of old. We must learn the tactics and techniques of those thrown in with us and respect them. We must take our iron and alloy it with the mettle of the others who were shattered alongside us. We must mix our broken strenght with other broken strenghts to forge a new, unbroken edge. -

Shadrak Meduson

   Here we are, finally! I have got my first demi-company full painted and currently planning the second half! I bought, over the years, a lot of space marines stuff and each time I have been in Nottingham I've always taken the occasion to buy some special Iron Hands products. So I found an astartes patrimony in my hands and, a few months ago, I finally decided to give it a shape.

    Hope you like it!

How I did it: Space Marines Razorback (Iron Hands)

- I believe in three tenets of battle: firepower, firepower and more firepower. Should the Omnissiah have wished otherwise, he would not have provided me with such a mighty tool as the Razorback.

- Iron Father Kardan Stronos, leader "de facto" of the Iron Hands Chapter

   Hello my friends! My latest trip was through the cold and merciless Medusa's plains as I finally decided to take over my first Space Marines project and give it a definitive shape. I've always been battled between two (or three, yeah better say three) loyalist Astartes Chapters: Imperial Fists, Iron Hands and Raven Guard.

    Talking about the first, IF, I liked their color scheme, as I love yellow (you can see traces of yellow in almost every army I painted); and, you know, it's quite important digging on when you paint. On the other hand I almost hated their BG; although the defending of Terra is quite evocative, they are definitely too zealous for me.

   Raven Guard and Iron Hands instead offered me both a great background to build an army, even if I didn't like their schemes so much. Black is a beast, and you can make striking black models, but at the very high cost of time. It is also true that if you want to go fast and have some experience, things will simplify. My final choice fell on Iron Hands for I liked much more their way of making war (and play); tanks, dreadnoughts and tactical marines. 

   I know now for sure that my choice was the best and even if it took 2 years to see something born, it was worth the wait. 

Showcase Me!: the Forgotten One's Finger

- The bad guys need to get lucky every time. The good guys just need to get lucky once. -
Steve Murphy

I could pretend that these six months have been a complete mess and look for some kind of excuse, but I simply had nothing remotely interesting on the workbench. I finished the last two elite guys on the Khorne batch from the basic game set, and they were just decent. Nothing awful like my misbegotten Reavers, but simply not worthy the time to write down a post about it.
Luckily, my vow ("thouh shall not commence a machine before completing the AOS box!") has been fulfilled and I had a ludicrous amount of ideas.

Like a quite radical conversion involving a Rhino/Stalker, a Sherman, a KV1, and a gargantuan s.F.H.18 howitzer.

Sometimes, size does matter

Bastet's Corner - Baptism (Performance)

Mission Entry: None
Log Entry N°: #01/001

Day 01, Hour??

It's not easy at all. Having to both keep up with my target's swift and erratic pace, and to stay as inconspicuous as possible is proving to be quite taxing, even for a scout as good as me.

How I did it: Militarum Tempestus Scion

  - I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that?

- Full Metal Jacket

   I know that it's been almost one month since the last post of the Chamber (and this surely is our longest blank time so far), but hey! Here we are, rocking and modeling as usual! I've painted a lot of things in this month and Francesco hasn't been idle either, completing for now his massively personal Bloodbound reading; I'm sure we will see soon enough the last chapter of his blood adventure.

   Talking about me, I can say that I've finished painting my Stormcast Vanguard Chamber from my mighty Guardians of the Ages stormhost and very soon I'll start too a series of post depicting them, the "Epoch Hounds": with tutorials, fluff and showcases.

   For now I'd like to share with you an easy tutorial about Militarum Tempestus; a friend of mine, from the new club where I'm playing atm, challenged me in a 40k Maelstrom Match vs his Necrons... so I decided to dust off one of my armies and get over my donkey waiting for a new edition of my (once) favoured boardgame. Funnily, to complete that army and play full painted (as this boy is a painting machine as well as me) I miss just one model, a Tempestor. 

   So I painted him in 2 hours the night before the game in the same way I had painted all the rest of the army, nearly 3 years ago. 

Showcase me!: Cult Mechanicus Tech Priest Dominus

   Aye folks!

   Today I want to share my Ol' Tech Priest. I call him Silonus Kevil Shrike quoting from some of my favourite sci-fi series and books, Battlestar Galactica and Simmons' Hyperion and I painted him during the very day of his release, back in the first half of 2015, if I remember well. 

  The model blown my mind away... I saw it as a change of direction in GW's way of making miniatures, and I loved and love the new direction.

Bastet's Corner - Baptism (Pursuit)

Mission Entry: None
Log Entry N°: #01/001

Day 01, Hour??

Well, curses.

The amount of curses my brain is making up out of nothing is impressive. The further I dash across this woods, trying not to lose sight of that creature while doing my best to avoid contact with... well, basically anything else, the more I tend to believe I'm trying to cope with a weasel, rather than a rat. Or, whatever that thing might be. Its agility is well beyond impressive, even for someone like me. Granted, the suit isn't exactly helping right now, but even if I was just wearing a normal one, I would still have quite a hard time in keeping pace.

Bastet's Corner - Baptism (Prelude)

Mission Entry: None
Log Entry N°: #01/001

Day 01, Hour 2235

Do you believe in Fate?

Do you think that prophecies, premonitions, and everything that goes with them, is it all to be considered of any value?

Do you think that things happen because they simply have to happen, that everything is predetermined, in spite of personal effort?

Imago: Octavius Baptist

-That then, is loveliness, we said,

Children in wonder watching the stars,

Is the aim and the end.

Being but men, we walked into the trees.

Dylan Thomas, Poet

Octavius Baptist, Ordo Xeno's psyker

Imago

Act I

Day one, Jactura

"The only way not to breathe the fog, is not to breathe" You would say, my beloved Lord and friend, Nicolas; and Your sentence suits perfectly to Verno's weather. Don't You think it is quite odd that this 
planet's name means, in ancient Terran, 'spring', while its elements behave as death?

Bastet's Corner - Operation: Smilebringer

Mission Entry: Extraction Rendezvous
Log Entry N°: #03/001

Day 10, Hour 2135

The sky is clear. There's a big, bright, full moon towering above the landscape, giving a peaceful, almost mystical, air to the moment. The snowstorm is now well past, leaving room for a gentle, if cold, breeze. As I glance down the valley, I play with my breath, letting puffs flow, big and small. The remains of the camp down below show no sign of last night's events. Had I been asked, no longer than ten days ago, that this would have been the outcome, I would have laughed my ass off. Boy, what a fool I would have been.

They should be here pretty soon. Better go check on the others and see if they're ok. I guess they'll be more than happy to meet their comrade, and leave all this behind them.

Point of RE-View: White Dwarf December 2016

 Good evening fellows! Not so late this time, we have our White Dwarf review for the month of December. Mostly of the issue is around and about Thousand Sons (alongside MAAAGNUS!!!) and THE expected specialist game of the year... of course i'm talking about Blood Bowl, one of the most successful board game in the whole GW's story, in its brand new issue!

Bastet's Corner - Operation: Helping Hand

Mission Entry: Zone Scouting
Log Entry N°: #01/001

Day 1, Hour 0335

Successfully deployed. Minor hiccup with the dropoff coordinates, so the landing wasn't exactly smooth. The pod hull sustained minor damage, but nothing I should worry about. All the sensitive equipment is in working conditions. Rendezvous is in 48 hours. Since the main task is to make sure that the citadel is free of enemy threat before the main rescue platoon drops, I should have plenty of time to try and make contact with the survivors - provided I manage to locate them, of course. The distress signal is fleeting at best. Well, tough luck for them, but I'll see what I can do. Let's move out.

Point of RE-View: White Dwarf November 2016

   Very late this month due to my commitments, but finally arrived, WD's review for this month going to be a fast one! Don't get me wrong, the issue it's well packed and has few highlights very interesting... just to say an example they featured in depth not one, or two, but three of my favourite (and painted) armies, Ironjawz, Stormcast and Dark Eldar!