Warhammer 40k: Fabius Bile

For a change of pace and to paint something other than black and gold I decided to paint up another favourite sculpt of mine, Fabius Bile.

Even though he's had a new miniature produced of him I still think you can't beat the original.

I painted him slightly different to normal by painting the top half of his coat as power armour as I really wanted a chance to paint some purple and push the Emperor's Children look.  I think it turned out well and helps his head and hair stand out.

For his coat I layered up Rakarth Flesh to Pallid Witch Flesh before glazing it with the Guilliman Contrast paint to add some richness.

All if his vials were painted with Pallid Witch Flesh before building up layers of contrast paint and finishing with some watered down varnish (after his matte spray).

I also tried out some Metal N' Alchemy paints on his backpack, which were great to use and so different to other metallic paints, they'll definitely be getting used more. 

Now that Fabius is done it's time to paint up some more fire power for the Black Legion...

Warhammer 40k: Abaddon The Despoiler

With all the troops finished it was finally time to start on the big man himself, Abaddon The Despoiler.

Unlike a lot of the army Abaddon is my original miniature from 2nd Edition, bought from my FLGS on his release, and so I've been leaving him until near the end of this project.

Up until the great paint removal he still sported my original paint job from back in the dayband I was torn between leaving him as he was and buying another Abaddon to paint or stripping him and starting afresh.

In the end I decided to give him the paint job he deserved all these years.  His base also got an upgrade as he was never the tallest of chaps and now he stands out from the rest of the army.

My 2nd Edition paintathon doesn't end here though as I still have a couple of characters to paint and I'm on the look out for a squad of Rogue Trader World Eaters.  Oh and there's also my Death Guard army as well...!

To end with here's a picture of Abaddon sporting his original paint job.

Warhammer 40k: Chaos Marine Sorcerer

Another miniature I've been looking forward to painting, one of the three original Chaos Space Marine Sorcerers.

I remember when these were released and this sculpt stood head and shoulders above the other two as he just looked so evil.

That crazy helmet and Chaos star staff, he just oozed what a Chaos Marine should look like.

I never did get around to buying him but when I started picking up pieces for my old school army he was top of the list of miniatures I wanted.  Luckily GW were still selling the same mini many years later (around 5th Edition if I recall) so I picked one up and added to the hoard for later use and here we are now with him all painted up.

As an aside I've got a new camera and it seems to be making a real difference with the image quality but boy it's unforgiving!

Warhammer 40k: Chaos Dreadnought

After finishing all the squads of old school miniatures (there's plenty more modern ones to do) it was time to add some heft to the army.  I remember when the Dreadnought was released and wanting one for my Chaos Marine army but younger me couldn't afford it at the time so it brought me a certain amount of satisfaction to paint this up.

Being a bigger centerpiece miniature I did a small amount of extra highlighting just to make him pop a little more but nothing too extravagant as I'm not overly keen on the edge highlighted look.

This is the first time I've used a transfer in decades as I wasn't feeling brave enough to attempt a freehand design but the blank space was begging for something.

He's quite a beast when held in hand (talk about heavy metal) and looks great standing next to this Chaos brethren.

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader Chaos Terminators

When I first got into the hobby in the early stages of second edition there weren't many Chaos Marine miniatures about (or a codex), in fact all you had were the Rogue Trader minis.  This meant that there wasn't much in the way of options when it came to picking up my first unit however once I saw these in their blister packs I knew I had to have them.

Those first Terminator miniatures were unfortunately sold off when my interest waned in the hobby but when I decided to collect a second edition army I knew I had to have these for my Terminators rather than the actual 2nd Ed minis.

The paint job for these is much the same as the rest of the army but I wanted to give these chaps a little extra time due to who they are.

The Captain has some great detail with the bone armour and as he will also be used as a Lord in some games I wanted to give him a Daemon sword rather than a power weapon.  Contrast paints worked great for this and gave it the otherworldly feeling I was after (he really stands out now).

My original Skullface had a power sword and combi-bolter but he's had a bit of a mix up this time getting an autocannon and chain chainfist, for when he gets up close and personal.

The Heavy Flamer has a great flame motif on his shoulder which I painted in red at first but I felt the the balance of the miniature was off so I went over it in gold and he looks much better.

Last up there are a couple of standard termies to round out the unit.

Though they are quite small by modern standards there's still something about these sculpts that hasn't been bettered in my eyes and they've been a real joy to paint.

Warhammer 40k: Black Legion Noise Marines

After taking quite a while (understatement of the year) with the Raptors I really enjoyed getting some paint on the Noise Marines and actually finished them in good time.

These were released at the very tail end of 2nd Edition and the art for this design of Noise Marines showed up in the 2nd Ed Codex.  The very first Noise Marines/Emperor's Children miniature was the now classic Mohawked guitar wielding Marine while their successors were the first Noise Marines I owned but personally pale in comparison to these boys which still have a Metal band vibe about them.

I was very tempted to paint them in either Emperor's Childen colours or in their classic garish scheme (lots of bright pinks, yellows, greens and blues) but in the end painted them up to tie in with the rest of the army, which while maybe not that exciting I do like the cohesive look of the force as it's slowly coming together now.

I've already started on the next and last unit for my classic Chaos Space Marines, one which I purposely wanted to paint last as incentive to keep on going, the Rogue Trader Chaos Terminators. 

Warhammer 40k: Black Legion Raptors

Well hobby procrastination kicked in (thanks to the excellent Returnal coming out for the PS5), which means this is the unit I have probably taken the most time with to complete ever.  Definitely worth it though.

I think the prospect of more gold trim made me keep putting them off but once I have the finished paint scheme in front of me I'm always happy with it.

These are now sat on the shelf with the other old school Chaos Marines and they're really coming together as a force with only a couple of units to paint up along with some characters and a dreadnought.

Before I continue with the gold trim ;) I'm mixing things up and painting a scenery piece which will be handy for almost any game and that should be relatively quick to paint (for a change) but more on that later.

Warhammer 40k: Fabius Bile's Enhanced Marines

For my next elite unit I wanted to tackle Fabius Bile's Enhanced Marines from 1998 as they were not miniatures I originally owned.

I must admit the sculpts didn't really excite me however once I started to paint them up (particularly the faces) they really began to grow on me and now I think they make a great center piece elite unit for the army.

In game terms I'll be using these as Veterans and if Mr. Bile makes an appearance he can also have his way with them!

Somewhat unfortunately this is the first unit where I didn't have all the original parts so had to sub in some modern arms and weapons however saying that they don't look too out of place so I'm not disappointed.

I've already started work on my next unit which sees me take another dip into 3rd Edition for Raptors.

This won't be the last 3rd Ed unit as I have some Noise Marines in the wing but both fit nicely into the 2nd Ed aesthetic.  This is due, I believe, because the sculpts were based on art create during 2nd Ed and some of which appears in the Codex.

Warhammer 40k: Chaos Marine Lord

My first character is now finished, the 2000 Chaos Lord.

Though this means I'm dipping into 3rd Ed with this mini (and a couple a of future squads, namely my Veterans who are actually Fabius Bile's Marines and then the Noise Marines and Raptors) there wasn't a generic Chaos Lord released during 2nd Ed and this chap fits right in aesthetically with the rest of the force.

I've spent a bit more time on this mini, as his rank demands, with some highlighting etc. so he pops a bit more on the table top.

Warhammer 40k: Black Legion Heavy Weapons

Now that the core troops are done it's time to move on to the specialists and I chose the Heavy Weapons first as they will add a nice bite to the force once they finally hit the table.

As with the rest of the army these were eBay rescues so they've been stripped, disassembled and rebuilt.  The choice of weapons was purely down to the auction I won but it covers all bases well enough.

Before moving on to the next squad I'll be working on a character to lead them as it will be a nice change of pace for me.