Night Lords 2016 Progress Update

Well, it’s been quite some time since my last post, in that time I have moved twice, studied to be a Qualified Teacher and started doing just that!

The summer holidays have allowed me time to decompress and think about things other than pedagogy and seating plans, which means hobby time!

I picked up the Betrayal at Calth box before it is retired and the Night Lords Legion pack with it from Forge World to turn its contents into members of the VIIIth, and here is that progress.

CALTH PLASTIC CONTEMPTOR

Here is the Calth plastic Dreadnaught with the additions of a Volkite weapon and various bits from the Night Lords etched brass sheet from FW, which are great by the way! It’s still in progress but is getting there!

CENTURION/MORITAT

I converted the Calth Chaplin into a Centurion, with magnetized options to be fielded as a Moritat. I removed his left shoulder plate and added a Night Lords one, and then resculpted the cloak covering. I have also ordered a Volkite pistol so he may be equipped with a Plasma/Volkite pistol combo.

CONTEMPTOR WEAPONS

I used the spare plastic Dreadnaught weapons with my own bits to make another Assault Cannon, I also finished my remaining magnetized weapons for my previous Dreadnaught.

CALTH CONTENTS

I assembled the rest of the Calth box using Night Lords Helmets and Chests to make sure every trooper had some VIIIth detailing in addition to the shoulder pad. I converted the Headsmen for the 3 units to have either Chain-glaives or a Lightning claw.

The Terminators were equipped with Volkite Chargers and a single Lightning Claw, purely based on fluff, with the Sgt having a pair of claws. I used the Forge World brass etched details to add legion iconography in addition to plastic skulls to one of the pauldrons.

VOLKITE CHARGERS

Finally, I ordered Volkite weapons for the Calth troops, which have been painted separately to make painting the troopers easier.

(My Terror Squads are: Headsman: Plasma Pistol and either Chain-glaive or Lightning Claw. 9 Troopers with 1 Flamer, 6 Volkite Chargers, 2 Bolters.)

EXTRA VIIIth DETAILING

When looking for ways to customise my models I came across these excellent resin pieces from a eBay seller, a set of flayed flesh shoulder ornaments and tabards, 2 off-the-shoulder cloaks with flayed flesh and 2 back cloaks with stitched flesh and bones. They are awesome, and I will most certainly be getting more for my force.

That’s all for now, and when life settles into a more predictable routine I hope to make more progress this year!

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WORK IN PROGRESS UPDATE – April 2015

Its been a while since I posted any updates, but I have been painting! (I just don’t finish anything…)

So, with that out of the way here is the most recent progress made to my fledgling 30K Night Lords force. It’s mainly detailing left to do, shoulder detail, bones, flesh and the like.

THE PRAETOR

Here are some Work-in-Progress images of the Praetor, mounted on a fallen Son of Horus, again converted from the fallen GW marines kit.

As you can see all his options are magnatized, allowing me to just make new weapon combos as apposed to multiples of the Praetor himself!

THE APOTHECARY

I went for a bit of a mini-diorama for the Apothecary, using another one of the wounded marines from GW. He has also been re-positioned and had a VIII Legion helmet added in addition to the pads and trademark Glaive.

TERROR SQUAD

This is the first attempt at standard marines, room for improvement but table worthy at least. All the guns are being painted separately which allows me some tactical choice for the unit. The Sergeants pistol is also magnetized like the options for the Praetor, allowing more choice in battlefield roles.

In Midnight Clad – Contemptor

Here is my completed Contemptor Dreadnought. The armour was painted in the same way as detailed in my Sevatar post.

THE CONTEMPTOR

 

NIGHT LORDS LIGHTNING

Here is a close up of the lightning on the piece, is the same method on all three parts:

Paint the lightning in Administratum Grey as a base coat, then were the lightning strikes meet, it was highlighted with white, once this was dry a technique called ‘juicing’ was used with an airbrush. This involves filling the airbrush cup with thinners and adding 2 drops of white, which is then mixed in the cup.

Then this very thin white wash is sprayed on a low PSI setting, very softly around the lightning, giving it a glowing effect.

SUPER-HEATED GUN BARRELS

I applied a super-heated effect to the gun barrels on the Contemptor with an airbrush and a selection of washes:

This was achieved by masking any overlapping metal with tape, so only the barrel itself is exposed. this was then airbrushed in a blend from the exit of the barrel going backwards in about 1/4 measurements with Blue then Purple then Sepia finally leaving the last 1/4 untouched. When this was dry the very end of the barrel was drybrushed with Mithril Silver.

DETAILED BASE

The base was again from Anvil Forge but with the addition of a GW injured marine, converted into a 30K Sons of Horus officer. This was painted in the same way Forge World say they painted theirs.

NOTE: The casualties in my army are Sons of Horus since this 30K jaunt is being experienced by myself and a friend, who is building a Sons force, so its just for that thematic reason, not due to any major conflict between those legions I’m aware of…

OPTIONS

The weapons for the Contemptor are all drilled and magnetized, giving me maximum tactical options for the least financial outlay!

They were painted on the magnetic contraption pictured below:

In Midnight Clad – Praetor

FEAR THE PRAETOR

Having wanted to have an option of a leader for my VIII Legion that was not a named character I set about creating my Praetor;

CONSTRUCTION

The Praetor was constructed with all options magnetized, since this hobby is hardly cheap, it also opened up more battlefield options without having to create a whole unit of characters!

JUMP PACK OPTION

STANDARD INFANTRY OPTION

BREAKDOWN OF TORSO & PIECES

I’m going to make some more weapon options when I have the pieces and some battlefield experience. The Helmet is also awaiting some bits, namely some Vampie Count helmet wings before I start that piece.

PAINTING

SOON…

BASING

I converted up some of the 40K dead marines into 30K dead marines, which involved changing shoulder pads/helmets/weapons. One of these will be the base detail for the Praetor, and another will detail my Contemptor base.

They are going to be Sons of Horus marines, which you had probably guess by the iconography…

In Midnight Clad

AVE DOMINUS NOX!

This will be/is an oft updated blog about my journey into 30K, having been inspired by the novels of Aaron Dembski-Bowden and then the Horus Heresy series of novels from Black Library.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the children of Nostramo, even having my Night Lords Demon Prince featured in the Chaos Collectors guide (2006?) and now with the resin-crack that Forge World has been churning out I’m back in. I’ve picked up Night Haunter, Sevatar, some Apothecaries and have 30 MK IV marines and a Night Lords Contemptor in the post.

I also sourced some cool extras from 3rd party suppliers, links below if you fancy picking some up.

NOSTRAMAN CHAINGLAIVE

The Chainglaive is cool from a fluff perspective and pretty good in the game so I’m told. However FW don’t sell them. Anvil Industy to the rescue! The only down side is thet are all right handed, and the Raptors, whom can all have one carry their combat weapons in their left hand, which left me drilling and pinning 10+ hands and weapons…

GLADUS

The Aaron Dembski-Bowden books mentions that all Night Lords carry a Gladus into combat as a back up weapon, so these are the right scale and have a bunch of options on the sprue.

BIONIC ARMS

For when I want to ad some spice to a unit or make a marine more of a Vet.

BASES

I opted for the City Rubble bases from Anvil Indusrty, the Night Lords are great at urban pacification. It also gave me a chance to paint the bases in warmer tones to contrast with the cold blues of the marines.

BASING 

The bases were painted by airbrushing the tiles with Deathclaw Brown and painting the pavement with Charadon Granite. The whole base then had an  airbrushed highlight with Screaming Skull.. This was then washed with Agrax Earthshade and again once dry with a mixture of Nuln Oil/P3 Mixing Medium 30/70. Edged black.

Sevatar – The Horus Heresy

IN MIDNIGHT CLAD…

I very recently discovered the Black Library Night Lords novels by Aaron Dembski-Bowden and was almost instantly turned back onto the 40K setting after years of being abused by it while working for GW. (Dealing with a million ‘spacky Billys’ armed with their ‘Blue Teams’, *shudder*.)

This combined with Forge World releasing their head honcho, Night Haunter was enough for me to jump back in. Having decided to go for Heresy-era Night Lords I ordered a bunch of Resin-Crack and got to it. I started Night Haunter, but then Sevatar was released. I threw money at my screen until it was delivered and cracked on with Sev. He’s the first Night Lord I’ve completed for my fledgling 30K force, and I’m not 100% happy with him but I tried out a bunch of new techniques and painting methods I usually stay away from.

JAGO SEVATARION, The PRINCE of CROWS

Since everyone has their own take on the Night Lords colour scheme I have listed my method, with bits & techniques claimed on my trawling of the inter-tubes. I don’t like the GW style of darker Ultramarines, especially since the Aaron Dembski-Bowden books describe it as ‘In Midnight Clad’, so dark its almost invisible in the shadows. Here it is:

UNDERCOAT 

The models were undercoated with GW Black Spray

ARMOUR

The armour was drybrushed with Rub and Buff Pewter, bringing the black undercoat upto a silver colour.

Tamaiya Clear Blue and Clear Red were mixed together to make a clear purple which was applied over the whole model in 3-4 very thin coats.

Once the model had dried, the whole thing was airbrushed with a layer of Auto Air colour Transparent Blue.

The Lightning strikes were painted on with Administratum Grey as a base coat.  Then were the lightning strikes meet, it was highlighted with white.

TRIM

The armour trim was basecoat Warplock Bronze, Highlighted Balthazar Gold, followed by Gehennas Gold and  finally given a wash of Agrax Earthshade.

HELMET WINGS

Bat wings etc. were basecoated Khorne Red, given a highlight of Mephiston Reh, adding flesh tones (Pallid Wych Flesh) for edge highlights. A glaze of Druchii Violet was applied to the recesses to increase the tone

SEALING

Once the model had dried, it was protected with a coating of GW Purity Seal.