Red Scorpions Part 1

Managed to treat myself to some painting time tonight after a hard days bathroom de-tiling, so with a couple of painting-in-progress shots to showcase, I reckon nows as good a time as any to introduce the second of my ongoing projects - Red Scorpions!

Why the Red Scorpions?

Well, it's been ages since I did anything with Astartes (my last attempt was a half-hearted treatment of pre-Heresy Thousand Sons, but painting so much red proved to be surprisingly dull...) and while I've been aware of a little voice somewhere in my head urging me to throw together a few of humanity's finest, I've struggled to find a chapter that's caught my imagination sufficiently to make me go for it. Then, a couple of weeks ago I was flicking through Imperial Armour 4: The Anphelion Project and found myself spending an uncommonly long time on the colour pics of the Scorps. Coupled with the fact that I knew someone at The Great Crusade had a fare few Forge World Scorpion pads available at a reasonable price, and a skim through the Forge World site to check out the rest of the available range, and I was sold!

Their appeal for me is a combination of things. The colour scheme is good, particulary when the grey and yellow are combined with the white veterans helmets - often a factor in chapter choice for anyone, I'm sure. They are very much a Codex chapter, but with a slightly rough edge: nothing too wild about them, but at the same time not quite as straight-laced as the Fists or Ultramarines. Their puritanical hatred of the enemies of mankind has obvious parallels with the Witch Hunters and Ministorum (so they mesh well with some of my other projects), whilst at the same time considering themselves vastly superior to many of their would-be allies, and therefore often nwilling to lower themselves to work with lowly Guard regiments and the like. They consider themselves to be strictly Codex as they see it, giving them a slightly contradictory character - they've effectively read the Astartes' bible and then proceeded to translate it in terms that are appropriate to their own ethos. They disdain camouflage (which should prove interesting if I have to paint any scout cloaks), and are proud of their own genetic purity (whilst at the same time being rather secretive about any genetic testing results that the chapter undergoes...). And for 300 years they effectively dropped out of the galaxy, and no-one knows what they did during this time.

So, Red Scorpions it is, and the first model to get more than a slap of grey paint is a commander conversion I picked up that uses Kantor's head. Initial work on the grey armour is done (with plenty still to be done) but the main aim of tonights brush session was to see if I can paint white to a decent standard. I'll let the results speak for themselves, and if anyone has any constructive crit to offer, I'm all ears! I should point out that the white areas are the only bits close to finished - the rest (laurels, eyes etc.) are still to be done. Seeing the pics has also shown me a spot of red near the right eye that needs sorting, and the camera flash has made the grey area across his forehead look rediculously stark, when in reality I think you'd struggle to even spot it, but them's the joys of digicam pics! Personally I'm really very happy with how its come out, and while he should probably have a yellow stripe running across his head, I'm inclined to leave this guy with a plain white helmet.





Until next time.

-Anodyr

Army of the Ecclesiarchy Part 1

With the mandatory intro post out of the way, I reckon it's time for some WIPs!

First up, my Ministorum-themed army-in-progress. Inspired completely by the various ministorum-themed drawings and paintings that have cropped up over the years (primarily, but not exclusively, in the Sisters of Battle and Witch Hunters army books), its an army that will celebrate all things weird and wonderful about the Imperial Faith.

Codex-wise, my current thinking is to model it on a Witch Hunters army with Imperial guard allies, but the on-table legalities are very much a second runner to devising some suitably, fanatically, flavourful units and characters ready to take the good word to the Emperor.

So, here's where I am today with this project (click the pics to see the whole image):





What we have there (roughly speaking, front to back) are:
- 16 Redemptionist footsoldiers
- 2 x Sister of Battle squads (10 Sisters each)
- Cannonness and Imperial Missionary (Jacobus )
- Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor with retinue
- 8 Sisters Repentia accompanied by Mistress
- Confessor Kyrinov (in blister)
- 2 Seraphim



A closer shot of the Inquisitor and Retinue. Some of these may not make the final cut, while others (the Missionary for example) may be moved into the standard Priest role, but overall I've ended up with a good selection of the more Hereticus-themed henchmen with flames and piousness a-plenty throughout the unit.

All in all there is just about a table legal army there, which is a pleasing place to be able to start from as I can focus on putting together a few thematic special units and models to swell the horde. On the cards are arco-flagellants (possibly converted from some VC ghouls I've got lying around), more Redemptionists (including a special character representing Archdeacon Ludmilla, Matriarch of the Red Redemption from the Dark Heresy background), penitent engines, at least one Preacher-sentinel, some very special Celestine bodyguards for the Cannonness and, all things going well, some sort of big tank centre piece using the massive plague censor from the new Skaven Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace kit.

So for now, watch this space. And stay faithful.

- Anodyr

Welcome to Halcyon Daze!

So, I've got me a blog... now, what to do with it?

Well, this is going to be a painting and modelling and general-idea-thrashing blog for things Warhammer and 40K related. No overarching theme in particular (though my initial thoughts are certainly more Imperium-based than anyting else), just a place for me to throw WIPs and ideas up as and when they come to me.

Having been into the hobby for more years than I care to remember, and with the wonder that is the Internet introducing me to sites such as Warseer and The Great Crusade over the last few years, blogging my projects isn't a completely alien experience for me, and I've lost count of the number of failed painting and modelling logs I've initiated over the years and ultimately abandoned.

So what went wrong, and why will starting a new blog help?

There are in my mind two sorts of hobbyist. Those with a singular clear vision of what they want to achieve and the self discipline to achieve it, and those who get flashes of great ideas, throw themselves into them, but quickly get distracted as soon as a new idea bounces into their heads.

I'm definitely one of the latter.

With previous hobby blogs, I think my problem has stemmed from the fact that in creating a log on, for example, Warseer, I immediately restrict what I can post there. As soon as a new idea comes along, a new blog is necessary due to it not fitting neatly into my previously created blogs, and before you know it you've got four or five different blogs begging to be updated with no time to focus on any one project, let alone all of them.

Cue blog-death.

So my thinking is that with Halcyon Daze, I can create one, all-encompassing place for me to pursue multiple projects, posting progress as and when appropriate, without feeling that I'm neglecting a particular model/army/blog effort by throwing up something completely random and unrelated, or something that's been sat on a shelf for a while and caught my eye again.

My other hope for Halcyon Daze is that it'll give me somewhere to explore and wonder aloud about all the crazy little ideas that come to me from time to time and usually fester until I give in to the urge to abandon my current work and start investing in new models (before ultimately getting distracted again...). Perhaps by excorcising some of these demons on "paper", I can stymie the urge to drop everything and start heading down a different track. Perhaps.

So, what can be expected for the immediate, and not-so-immediate, future of Halcyon Daze?

As I already mentioned, my modelling efforts at the moment are distinctly Imperium-flavoured , and with a few different ideas knocking around, rather than choosing one particular theme or army, I'll bite the bullet and attempt to do all of them!

That being the case, coming soon to Halcyon Daze:

• The Ecclesiarchy goes to war! A Ministorum-themed army, featuring Sisters, the Ordo Hereticus, priests, Redemptionists and as many other manic churchy-types as I can fit in.


• Imperial Guard. I've got a small force of Vossies who are in dire need of some quality time with a paint brush, and as I'm never going to be able to bring myself to sell them, I might as well paint them!


• Red Scorpions. I haven't done anything Marine flavoured for ages, and with a few choice bits acquisitions under my belt, I'll be breaking out the grey paint and throwing together a few of these guys.


• Rogue Trader. I'm a big fan of the Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader rpgs, and with lots of funky artwork and background to refer to, plus a few as-yet-unrealised modelling ideas that have been stewing for absolutely years, I'll be looking to throw together a small force to represent a Rogue Trader and his crew.

So, four different projects to get me going. Should keep me busy for a while I think. Hopefully there'll be a few people out there that find this blog interesting enough to put up with my occasional self-indulgent musings and find something that they like here, and for those that do, I'm looking forward to having you along for the journey!

So, until next time,

Anodyr