Stand down, nothing to see here. The invasion has been postponed. Please return to your habs.
Looks like I will have more time to prepare for the heresy epic scale return as Legions Imperialis launch has been delayed. Disappointing news naturally as I am eagerly anticipating getting my hands on the boxed set. See what delights I can work with the miniatures to bring my current heresy forces to life in an even grander scale.
As I have patiently waited years for epics return however, thirty of them if I consider 2nd edition, a little while longer won’t deter me from delving back into my favourite game and hobby era.
Project shuffle
Up to now I have been working through a backlog of Titanicus and Aeronautica miniatures where I had confidence they could transfer straight into Legions Imperialis. Most notably these have been aircraft from the White Scars legion and engines from Legio Astraman. I was already working on a single Thunderhawk for the White Scars, but after the Warhammer Community preview revealed a detachment could include up to three of the iconic gunships, I have started building a second which I will continue with now over the weekend.
But what next, now I suddenly find myself with a bit of extra hobby time before Legions Imperialis drops?
Two things come to mind; building more engines, either for Astraman, or another legio. Or test out other legion and solar auxilia palettes using some older miniatures. I’m leaning towards the latter as I would like to see how my Word Bearers scheme translates to a smaller scale. I am happy with how the White Scars, Imperial Fists and Solar Auxilia aircraft have come out, but there is always more I can do!
Raiding the archives
I’d also like to find my old Ultramarines force from Epic Armageddon if I still have it and maybe do a few nostalgia photo shoots with a decent camera if anyone would like to see that kind of thing. Comment below, or on the Lost Exodite facebook post if that’s a thing you would like to see more of. For example my old first edition Gargant or the converted resin Forgeworld Reaver from the Epic 40,000 era. They look so tiny now compared to the current kits!
Back to the Black Books
It seems to be a good time to pore over the black books for Solar Auxilia references, especially those that fought on Terra during the final stages of the heresy. Plans to do a themed force based on the events of “The Warhawk” are taking shape, but this will be a slow burn and not fully realised until the second wave of Legions Imperialis. Units that I suspect will not be part of the games initial launch will be required to properly model the White Scars forces at Lions Gate.
The Horus Heresy spanned such a vast number of sectors, worlds, campaigns and conflicts I don’t think anyone will be short of inspiration to draw upon. All I know is despite the announcement, my excitement remains undiminished for the games return. Much like the machinations of Alpharius, I have plans within plans for some ‘epic’ hobbying over the summer.
Check back for progress.
Carl, good time of the day to you! I’ve found your army of Sand Jackals on the old Dropship website via the cachedpages, and I wonder if you still have them or if you, perhaps, have more photos of it? If yes, can you share some? The old webside only had on low quality photo, and I’d love to see that army in detail…
I will punch in my e-mail into the field – you should see it, I think, if you’d like to reply to me in that way.
Thank you!
Hey Ross. I remember doing them, that was a long time back. Unfortunately I’m pretty sure that army is long gone as far as I know. I gave away a lot of my former GT armies from 99’ – early 00’s.
Other than what’s in the archives I believe those are the only photos sorry.
That is sad to hear. But thank you for the reply nevertheless.
I’d be really interested to see more of your Epic Orks please, especially how you painted the infantry. I’ve come across a horde that I want to repaint and I’m looking for inspiration!
I’m sure I still have the Orks somewhere. If I dig them out and I’ve a space on the workbench I’ll do something with them.
What I will say is I painted them over twenty years ago and am 100% sure if I was to do them again today I’d take a very different approach, almost certainly leaning into the contrast range over a greyscale pre-shade. When I did that horde originally I recall simply painting them in strong pigment and opacity paints directly over black primer to emphasise volumes in quite a primitive way. Highly effective at the time, especially for Orks, but I would take a different approach now we have the benefit of strongly pigmented ink based paints like Contrast.
Could be cool seeing how different they would look if I did them today. I’ll add that to the potential project list!