40K Imperial Assassins

I have finally finished the miniatures from the atrociously named Assassinorum: Execution Force. I got this game second hand, already assembled and undercoated, several years ago. I very carefully removed mould lines and then put the figures away to mature. I painted the Vindicare and some of the baddies in 2018, and have now completed the other assassins and all the cultists.

Assassins

The Vindicare is a sniper with specialised weaponry and ammunition. I never had a metal Vindicare, but am pretty happy with the plastic one. It was tricky getting around the back of the preassembled model.  I painted him in 2018 for the Analogue Challenge 'BFG' theme round.

Vindicare

I'm not a huge fan of the dramatic-scenery-base for gaming purposes, but I grudgingly tolerate it for display purposes. The Eversor looks like the psychotic rampage beast he is.

Eversor

The Callidus can shapeshift to infiltrate her way amongst the Imperium's enemies. Her synskin gave me anxiety, but I got there in the end with blue-black washes over blue-grey highlights .

Callidus

The Culexus is a psychic assassin who terrifies you to death. His Giger-esque helm looks like it would give massive neck strain.

Culexus

As a bonus for you, I dug up my old 1997 metal Eversor and Callidus. I have to respect the 2015 plastic updates which keep so much of the old design. I'm pretty happy with the old Eversor and its paintjob from 20+ years ago! I still haven't finished the old Callidus and probably never will...

Eversors old and new

Callidi old and new

1997 Eversor

Finally, here's all the baddies from the game- one Terminator sorcerer, three Marines, one familiar, fifteen cultists. I will get a game report up on the blog at some point.

Skull-o-meter™:

• Vindicare 10
• Callidus 5
• Old Callidus 6
• Eversor 8
• Old Eversor 5
• Culexus 4
• Baddies 22

Blackstone Fortress Escalation explorers

I've painted up the explorers from BSF: Escalation.

Blackstone Fortress: Escalation explorers

Gotfret de Montbard is a crusader; a noble on a religious quest. I do wish he had a more dynamic pose, since his role is to be right in the thick of things.

Gotfret de Montbard

Aradia Madellan is a sanctioned psyker. She's got a great pose and cool little details, but hasn't really inspired me much.

Aradia Madellan

Daedalosus, on the other hand, was great fun to paint. He's a Technoarchaeologist covered in all these steampunky bits, and I'd like to paint more AdMech like him.

Daedalosus

X-101 is a weapons servitor, pretty much a lobotomised slave.

X-101

Finally, Neyam Shai Murad is a Rogue Trader. She's a gorgeous sculpt and was fun to paint.

Neyam Shai Murad

Skull-o-meter™: 18

40K terrain

I pulled my finger out and painted some 40K terrain that I’ve been accumulating over the past few years. It is covered in grimdark detail. I rusted it up using sponged-on browns and oranges, then a coat of Woodland Scenics burnt umber wash.

Containers

Pipelines

Supply crates

Barrels

Toolbox and extinguisher

I’m not sure what this is- a communicator, a snack dispenser, or a jukebox. Looks cool, though!

This last piece is a cool objective for a scenario. It is a planet-killing exterminatus WMD- you
have to defuse it or arm it, or maybe you don’t know what it is but your gang thinks it looks cool.

Skull-o-meter™️: 183

Mansions of Madness: Path of the Serpent

I've painted the monsters and investigators from the latest MoM expansion, Path of the Serpent. The monsters are a bit more pulp/ Indiana Jones than cosmic horror, but they're still nice figures.

Investigators

 

Ursula Downs, explorer

Leo Anderson, expedition leader

Daniela Reyes, mechanic

Norman Withers, astronomer

Monsters

Ancient Basilisk

Temple Guardians

Serpent People

Feathered Serpents

On the slopes of Mount Doom

I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-Galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shaft of his father's sword, and took it for his own.

JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

The opening scene of Jackson's Fellowship absolutely blew my mind and sucked me in to hours of films, and later countless hours of toy soldiery.

These are Perry brothers sculpts. I painted Sauron and the standing Elendil and Isildur many years ago, but they have not previously graced this blog. For the 'last stand' and 'geology' challenges in AHPC X, I painted the prone Númenóreans and made a scenic base.

Sauron

Isildur and Elendil

Isildur

Elendil

Isildur & Elendil

Magnetized base

I used a rocky outcrop from Gale Force 9 to bulk up the Renedra base, to provide a visual balance to Sauron, and to reinforce the idea that their backs are against the wall. These outcrops are lovely durable resin pieces, and I strongly recommend them. I 3D printed a ring (!) to contain Sauron's 40mm base. I built up the groundwork with plaster, bark, and model railway ballast. I added some brown tones during the painting, since grey is boring and doesn't look right.

Early planning

Groundwork for sealing and painting

Painted

I added a flower in a rocky cleft, since hope blooms even in the darkest moments.