I’m going to start with a confession. I’ve not done any painting past three weeks, it’s simply been too hot. That’s not to say I haven’t been indulging in some hobbying however.
When the weather is too warm to paint, I nearly always take that as a golden opportunity to get outside and, much to the disgust of my partner hobby there instead! So that’s what I have been doing this weekend, especially given it has been a Legions Imperialis release weekend for more tank kits. Not least amongst them, the Shadowsword.
All the magnets
This has always been one of my favourite tanks from the original edition, and I am loving the heresy redesign of the slab armoured engine killer. I actually think I prefer this version to the original Forgeworld resin one, which I’m embarrassed to say I still have in storage somewhere. Unbuilt.
Anyway. Moving on.
There are two tanks to each box and all three variants can be built. The Shadowsword, Stormsword and Stormblade. And when I say ‘all’ I mean that. The kit comes with the mantlets for each main gun variant, so it is quite literally screaming out to be magnetised. So, I did. All of them in fact.
Each tank has a large cylinder magnet attached to the inside of the hull just behind where the gun sits. The magnet is fixed in place with green stuff so it’s honestly not going anywhere after the tank is assembled. Each mantlet has a small 5mm x 1mm disk magnet glued to the inside (Tip: always check polarity before fixing in place. I have discovered yelling “feth it!” gets me told off in my house)
To help guide the guns into the correct position when swapping them over, I added some extra putty to the mantlets and ‘smushed’ it against the hull to create a guide. Once cured any excess was trimmed away with a scalpel blade.
So that was Saturday’s free time taken care off getting six of them built. As the rest of the weekend was also pretty glorious, it seemed rude not to make the best of it. On the “to do” and now ‘done’ pile were the last few frames from the Astartes Battle Group box I started a couple of weeks back. The contents are more or less ear-marked as the starter for my traitor force; the Emperor’s Children, but I wanted to get the models built so they are ready to go.
A dozen Dreadnoughts and some sentry guns later and that was another task I could tick off.
That left just enough light in the day to start prepping for moving onto Legions and Titanicus terrain. A few sub-assemblies, some sorting parts into bags and that’s a good chunk of architecture ready for turning into a variety of buildings. I’m actually quite looking forward to a change of pace and working on these. I think the last time I worked on any terrain was probably the tiles for Necromunda! Another project that needs to be finished. It’s like there’s a theme here somewhere.
Silent Wars II
A week back saw the second of the ‘Silent Wars’ Heresy narrative event weekends at Incom Gaming. Technically, it was the third I’ve attended as there was also a Zone Mortalis one day event, but let’s not split hairs. My Word Bearers were back out in the thick of it and I’d like to say they were hewing into the loyalists left and right. Except they weren’t. They really, really weren’t. Results aside all three games were absolutely fantastic fun. Genuinely. Not just saying that. Holding the line against Ian’s White Scars and Alpha Legion was a great game and Kurt was back with his Raven Guard. With night fighting in play I knew I was up against it with the XIXth legion and they didn’t disappoint. Probably one of ‘the’ most cinematic games I have ever played. Even though the Word Bearers were brutalised in a night ambush, it was everything heresy should be narratively.
Despite the losses. This won’t be the last from Lorgar’s legion as I have a tasty backlog of units I intend to add over the coming months and years. But it may likely be their last outing for ‘Silent Wars’ and this year as I’d like to focus on other heresy projects for the remainder of 2024.
More pre-orders coming
Talking of other projects, at the time of writing the next wave of Legions Imperialis kits has been announced, including the Sabre.
Currently, these are the only ‘light tank’ option (we know of) and I have been eagerly awaiting their release since the launch of the game. Mostly just to fill that pesky empty light tank detachment slot. No immediate plans which legion these will go into. I’ve some ideas, but nothing concrete yet. Which is fine as they won’t be out for three weeks yet anyway having only been announced for pre-order today.
Joining them will be the remaining Russ variants and the Termites. Much excite!
If I’m not mistaken, I think these are also the last of the announced kits, which brings Legions Imperialis up to a full release. Anything yet to come has not been teased or revealed yet, but we all love a guessing game, so I’m going to stick my neck out and say Sicaran Venators and the legion Fellblade and Glaive heavy tank options. Well, I can but hope. While I’m wish-listing … Stormbird. We need one (many).
So that’s been my hobby progress the past couple of weeks. Played some great games against some cool opponents. Built some fabulous kits and even sorted a bit of terrain out for the future. Not shown, so maybe for another day are five more Gal Vorbak I made for the Word Bearers. Those plus some additional Ruinstorm lesser daemons I’d hoped to get completed for Silent Wars II, but sadly life got in the way, as it so often does. Not to worry though, I will finish them when I fancy a bit of a break from tiny scale tanks.
I hope your hobby time has been as fulfilling. Let me know in the comments below or on my social media what you have been working on lately, or what you are looking forward to starting?
Until next time, happy paining.
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