Another month has come and gone and the industrious members of Goonhammer continue their unending task of having fun and making cool/interesting models! Let’s see how things shaped up for April…
Jack Hunter
I’ve been hard at work preparing for the Seattle Open. As soon as I thought I was just about done (including some fancy primaris vanguard veteran conversions), we got the Armor of Contempt update that made me upend my list and dig a box of terminators out of the closet.
I also got tired of my bladeguard having to walk up the field, and gave them a nice impulsor to ride in. No longer do they feel inferior to my Imperial Fists.
Now that I’ve got my whole army wrapped up for this tournament I’m looking forward to a little more painting freedom. Feeling like a land raider might be my next project, as I just painted up a squad of terminators for it to carry.
PierreTheMime
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but in 40K-land the Tyranids have received a new book and to the surprise of everyone it’s actually really great! I’ve been sitting on a set of Zoanthropes for ages, and now that they’re basically mandatory I decided to apply paint to them.
Another unit that has a new lease on life: the humble Tyrant Guard. To keep things interesting (and because I already had them on hand), I painted up the 3rd Edition models which add some unique flavor. There’s mixed feelings on these models, but I think they look neat and are a good conversation piece.
Tyranid Warriors are good now! As of typing this I have two left to do and then I’ll have enough to field my full 2k list.
Looking for a break from red/beige, I decided on a whim to pick up the Reikenor the Grimhailer that I’ve had sitting, primed, on my desk for at least three years. Definitely an involved model, but I do love my ghost-horsies and it was nice to get back to Nighthaunt…
So I rounded out the month with the Mortrarch of Grief herself, Lady Olynder. I’d been putting the bigger heroes off for a while, but I got up the courage to give it a go and I think it turned out pretty nicely.
Musterkrux
For some people, this is the April Hobby Round Up. For me? It’s the February-March-April submission. Fun fact: It takes a little while to free-hand thorns and flowers on a Crimson Hunter…
Even after the new Craftworld Eldar book this is not an optimal piece to put on the table but danged if I don’t love a sleek jetfighter. Half-painted as a passion project and half a proof-of-concept for the vehicles I will take in an Aeldhari list, this Crimson Hunter took more than a month (almost three) of airbrushing, edge highlighting and free-handing to polish off. I feel almost obliged to put it into a list now…
Photo Credit: Musterkrux 
Photo Credit: Musterkrux 
Photo Credit: Musterkrux
A little bit of counter-shading with a turquoise blend really complements the rich green of the Biel-tan colour scheme, I find. I’m aware the Pulse Laser is missing but that’s what you get when you buy second-hand but I actually like the idea of a large central air-intake (even if it already has two in the wing roots).
Next month, you might even be lucky to see two (two!) Wave Serpents done in a similar (but more simplified) colour scheme. Also, #TeamOpaqueCockpit4Life
Charlie B
April was a month of inane firsts for me: sculpting a top hat, and painting a pumpkin. Why the top hat? Because my Goff rokkers have accrued some fangrots wearing sweet merch, that’s why. I picked the grot with goggles for (I hope) obvious reasons, and executed what is, arguably, an OTT conversion for a five point popgun-toting shitstain.
Next up, I painted the command trio from the ol’ Forgeworld Nuln Ironsides kit. These three lads were given to me about a decade ago by my buddy Mark for being one of his groomsmen. He gave everyone else cufflinks, and correctly suspected I’d be way more stoked by little resin men.
Thing is, they never became priority one… until I recently decided to run Sharpe-but-in-the-Old-World (weirdly coincidentally, the very series Thanqol just wrote a compelling review of). It’s only loosely Sharpe (junior officer is assigned to rag-tag bunch of muskety bastards, attempts to survive life in Hochland) but still. Here’s Sergeant Albrecht and his merry idiots:
Finally, returning to the Old World after years of neglect prompted me to haul another kit out of my Cairn of Opportunity, and have a crack at Tabletop World’s Townhouse III. It’s pretty, and it’s got a pumpkin. I love these buildings… and so do drybrushes.
Skails
This month I threw together a kitbashed Daemonic War Dog Stalker for Smash Bash 2022. (Put on by @totally_not_panicking on Instagram.) The bulk of this build is a busted up Astra Militarum Sentinel and a busted up Dread Abyssal from Mortarchs of Nagash. Splash in some leftover bits from two Ossiarch Bonereaper Gothizzar Scavengers, a poorly recast Contemptor Dreadnought, a zombie torso, and some random chaos bits and there you have it.
Richyp
In hindsight I don’t know what was so intimidating about Imperial Fists, even without an airbrush the model was painted up pretty quickly. I also did some daemon guy to go with him too, Be’lakor or something.
After spending the weekend on that model, I looked wistfully at the 2020 Chaos Space Marine Battleforce Box that’s been gathering dust in my garage for a couple of years and decided to paint up a test miniature to accompany Be’lakor. A vote was had, and Night Lords won.
Happy with the result, I repeated it over a few more models (I grabbed the Start Collecting for the other models too).
Their non-daemonic* boss:
The other non-daemonic* boss
My favourite unit, the Terminators.
I did a quick video painting one of these guys up (takes just over an hour in real time)
A Rhino, painted with a cheap make up brush.
And some Greater Possessed and a Venom Crawler
After painting them up my son started to show an interest in the models and decided he want to play all the Eldar stuff (all the Eldar stuff). So next week I’ll be working on those. I did do a unit of Kabalites to start him off, in a colour scheme of his choosing: Burgundy, Black/Green and Gold.
I also did the same with some Howling Banshees too:
Mugginns
This month I chose to finish up some ACW guys who had been kicking around my desk for a long time. These are a mix of manufacturers and both Confederate / Union guys. I mostly just wanted to get some cool poses done for mixing in with skirmishers.
These are some bushwhackers from Crusader Miniatures, one of their more recent ACW releases. Love the poses, love that one guy is using a flintlock and one guy a double barreled shotgun.
The guy on the left is a civilian from Knuckleduster, I believe. The second from left guy is from the Perry Miniatures Bread Riot set, also known as Bill the Butcher. The middle and far right guys I believe are from Dracula’s America by North Star – but I can’t find them on their site. The brown coated gentleman is form the bushwhackers set above – pretty sure it’s John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn. He’ll make a good town sheriff.
The guy on the left is definitely from Dracula’s America – a preacher that will work as a holy man for Sharp Practice. The guy on the right definitely has the ‘Deliverance’ vibes and came from the bushwhacker set. Really like the crisp details on the minis that make it easy to paint.
I’m really excited to get this unit finished. It’s a Coehorn mortar from Sash and Saber minis and it’ll do nicely as a really small piece in some Sharp Practice games. I imagine I’ll have to make up some stats for it as a light gun with a long range that hits more indiscriminately.
This last one is not even a mini I’ll probably ever use, but had to get done. This guy is being punished for some offense, likely drunkenness’ on picket. Wargames Foundry has some amazing sculpts and this is definitely one of them!
Lupe
I’ve been on a Horus Heresy kick this month getting everything ready to play some second edition when it drops. I’ve gone for Alpha Legion and I’ve gotten a decent start on the pile.
Pendulin
Is it just me, or is it Nurgle in here? Taking the dive into Death Guard with a trio of models, and like all blessed by the grandfather’s gift, I’m loving it so far.
First up we’ve got the first Plague Marine I’ve ever painted!
I want my Death Guard to bridge the cap between the olde timey color scheme and their 40k one, and I think this delivers right what I was going for. Both bone-white and green. Grungy and filthy but not over the top. Good stuff.
And what’s a Plague Marine without a good ol’ Poxwalker to follow him up?
I was actually a little worried about painting this guy. Wasn’t sure how this color scheme would translate onto flesh, but I love how it turned out. The skin looks fetid and gross, bloated and sickly. Absolutely disgusting.
And to wrap things up, the leader of the trio, a Plague Champion.
This model is absolutely loaded with details that were a ton of fun to paint. All three of these models are from a First Strike box I’ve had kicking around for ages, and it’s a shame that it’s not sold any more. These models are dripping with character. At least, I hope that’s character…
SRM
Much like Jack, I spent much of the month preparing for the Seattle Open. Similarly, I am also taking Black Templars along, though the hill I’ve chosen to die on is “take suboptimal units, as a bit”
First up was this unit of Sword Brethren. I built the lightning claws and thunder hammer because they’re cool, and just put power swords on the rest because I don’t want to have to keep track of 5 different weapon profiles. What was really fun was coming up with individual heraldry for each of them, and using as many cool bits in the kit as I could reasonably fit.
Next up I had this revelation while playing a game that if I used Heretic’s Pyre on a squad of Flamestorm Aggressors, they might actually be good, or at least good-adjacent. I had bought a trio of Aggressors from a friend, converted them and primed them, when suddenly my latest issue of Imperium arrived and brought another trio of chonky bois into my life:
Despite the fact that neither of these units are upending the meta right now, in my single game since painting them they’ve both proven extremely effective at what they do. Those Aggressors dumping out 72 shots on a unit of Necron Warriors was downright glorious, even if 10 of said Necrons getting back up afterwards wasn’t. With that sole practice game-adjacent experience out of the way, I’m off to the Seattle Open!
Bair
This month I put the finishing touches on my Auric Flamekeeper for my Fyreslayer army to get games in with the new battletome as well as adding a few new gangers to my Cawdor gang for a small campaign going locally.
I also added reinforcements to my Black Templars with a Marshall, Ancient, Crusader Squad, Redemptor Dreadnought and an Aggressor Squad for a Crusade Campaign. I wanted to make the non-Templar specific kits try and match the aesthetic of the nice new Primaris ones as much as possible, so added some 3D printed shoulder pads from Archie’s Forge as well as the body for my Ancient and just had to add chains on all of the weapons!
The Dreadnought is sporting a brazier from an Age of Sigmar terrain kit that’s been cut down to size and chained on along with a lot of bits from the Templar upgrade sprue and transfers from The Mighty Brush for all of the text.
PrinceofBielTan
Hello! I’m excited to be here for my first contribution to Goonhammer, and where better to start than with the Hobby Roundup!
This month I’ve been working on my New Year New Army, my Ghyran themed Ogor Mawtribes.
I decided to theme my Ogors around the verdant mossy undergrowth of the realm of life. Which means lots of green, lots of bone and lots of texture. I tried highlighting the bone and horns in a more erratic pattern with thin brush strokes to give the impression of depth and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. As for the rider, I wanted to do a bit more experimenting with contrast paints to paint up some lovely dark skin.
I also painted these Nighthaunt Dreadblade harrows for my local store’s Easter painting challenge. We were tasked with painting any box of figures within a tight deadline, so I thought I’d set myself up for success and choose a box with only two figures. I’d never painted Nighthaunt before but I was excited to experiment with contrast paints and medium to see if I could get a nice blend on these ethereal riders and I’m very happy with the result after sitting back and just letting the paint mix on the model. Nagash says paint smarter, not harder!
