Leman Russ, Primarch of VI Legion

Last week, I mentioned that my Space Wolves could use some reinforcements with the upcoming Wrath of Magnus book (which I'm not sure if I have any non-lore reason to get, since it apparently only includes rules for Chaos Space Marines). Well, it's hard to imagine better reinforcements for Astartes than their gene-sire. Of course, the Horus Heresy Leman Russ model is set in the time he walked among his sons, but never mind that now. I suspect he'll be making a comeback to 40k fairly soon, possibly in a werewolf form, just so that he can repeat his match with Magnus.

 I usually do a fair bit of customizing my models, but aside the typically overdesigned sword with all the unnecessary spikes, and the slightly awkward-looking pose, I'm fairly happy with the model as-is.
I also kept the paintwork fairly unadventurous, with Mechanicum Standard Grey, shaded with Nuln Oil, highlighted with Dawnstone and highlighted again with Administratum Grey for base. I did want to depart from Forgeworld's display model, as I don't really see why Leman Russ would have green armour. Maybe that will be explained in their next Horus Heresy book, but I decided to base the model's paintwork on a piece of artwork published earlier this autumn.

 I wanted to have his wolf pelt white, to provide contrast for his dark armour. I also wanted to paint most of the gemstones on the model red, for the same reason.

The model, like apparently all of Horus Heresy Character Series models, came with a 40 mm base for gameplay purposes, that can be enclosed within a larger display base. The bases fit together relatively seamlessly.

 The scenic base has a slightly raised slot that the 40 mm base fits onto. The rubble, which I decided to paint mostly grey stone and slightly off white marble, makes the seam difficult to notice if one doesn't know where to look.

 Having added some blood to the neck of the decapitated head of the Thousand Sons legionary, I decided to add some to the scenic base as well, to keep the seamless look.
I can't help thinking the pose would work better if Russ' rear foot was on the ground as well, or at least slightly more bent at the knee and less at the hip. As it is, it looks a little like his rear leg slipped on the marble surface he was running on.

Two Wulfen, painted

With the upcoming Thousand Sons releases, it looks like it's high time I returned to my Space Wolves. They're going to need reinforcements soon. Luckily, I had already started last week (actually much earlier, but I had these two finished last Sunday). Should probably also get to work on a pack of Long Fangs, but all in good time.

 I had originally planned to make the pack look like they had just been changed by the curse, while still wearing most of their original equipment, but the Wulfen models don't really allow for that, as they are wearing pelts etc. over their black carapace, as well as pieces of armour specifically made for their changed physique. I then decided to use one of the Blood Claws pack markings shown in the Codex to be a part of Ragnar Blackmane's army in the battle for Alaric Prime, but switched the yellow in their marking for white, to fit the Wulfen scheme.

 I don't want my packs to look too homogenous, as their members are recruited from all over Fenris, so I decided to paint the chainsword wielding Wulfen with a slightly darker skintone than the other one. I used Reikland Fleshshade for shading this model, but I have to say I prefer Seraphim Sepia for most lighter fleshtones.

 The Wulfen with the improvised weapon was given a lighter fleshtone of Kislev Flesh, shaded with Seraphim Sepia and highlighted with Kislev Flesh again and finally with Flayed One Flesh. I also painted the Great Company badge on his knee, as his left shoulder pad couldn't really display it with all the studs. The Blood For The Blood God was added to the improvised maul after the model had been varnished.

The smaller backpacks seem to fit the Wulfen just fine, and I may choose to use some to model one more pack from the previously lost 13th Great Company in the future. I expect I'll put that off at least until the next Horus Heresy book from Forgeworld is published, though.
This pack still needs three more models, however. I'll continue working on it once I've finished sculpting a few more Wulfen heads.

Two Wulfen

When the Wulfen returned in the first War Zone Fenris, they were described being the lost battle-brothers of the 13th Great Company in the aftermath of the burning of Prospero. However, it was also made clear that the contemporary members of the Space Wolves chapter started to fall to the curse on their return, and I wanted to explore this aspect of the curse. Blood Claws are the warriors most suspectible to the curse, so I decided to convert a pack of Wulfen who until recently were just a pack of Blood Claws under Ragnar Blackmane's command.

 Unlike the 13th Great Company, who had 10 000 years to craft their weaponry, and were granted access to the Chapter's armoury, I decided that a group of whelps who have surrendered to the curse would not be given much in the way of hallowed relics of the Chapter. I imagine them having been outfitted with just some armour better suited for their altered physique and not much else.
I took one of the model's hands off a Thunder Hammer and used it to fit a chainsword in his hand. I also used a standard power armour backpack with the model. I also attached two normal shoulder pads to display the model's pack and Great Company markings. The most work intensive part of the model was to sculpt him a whole new head. I also decided to sculpt a tall mohawk, using similar structure to the one included in the Space Wolves Pack sprue.

Having sculpted one head with a closed mouth, I wanted another one with slightly parted jaws. The backpack came from the Mk.VI armour, as did the shoulder pads. I decided the model should have an improvised club, and glued some pieces of resin sprue to the base, with some iron wire through them to represent rebar.

I aim to get these jolly fellows painted by next Sunday.

Ahzek Ahriman and one of his little friends

Though I'm generally partial to the Space Wolves chapter/legion, and though in the larger scale they clearly are the good guys and the loyalists as opposed to the Thousand Sons, there really is little question that in the case of burning of Prospero, the VI legion were the bad guys and the barely literate invaders, who attacked the homeworld of the Legion focused on learning and answering questions, killed the world's defenders and committed a genocide. Of course, they were misled, and it wasn't long after that Leman Russ swore off following orders unquestioningly, but that wasn't much comfort to the now crippled legion of Thousand Sons, who only were attacked in the first place because their Primarch had tried to warn the Emperor of the archtraitor.

I recently bought a copy of the Burning of Prospero as a birthday present for myself. I really wanted to use the Forgeworld's colour scheme for my Thousand Sons, as they are not supposed to look like Blood Angels, but I neither have an airbrush nor their Angron Red, so I had to make do with Citadel colours and Lahmian Medium. For that reason, I wanted to try out the colour scheme on an expendable miniature before moving on to Ahriman. There's a fairly decent chance I'll end up buying another Burning of Prospero in the future, so if I decide to try this again with a different execution of the colour scheme, it will be an option.

 The Forgeworld's colour scheme is done by airbrushing the transparent Angron Red over a metal basecoat. I tried to replicate it by painting Mephiston Red thinned down with Lahmian medium over Leadbelcher base. I then proceeded to shade the model with Nuln Oil and to add some similarly thinned down Evil Sunz Scarlet to some of the most raised areas. I then highlighted the edges of the model's plate with Runefang Steel. The end result is more weathered than main GW's overtly clean look, and I like this that way. Confident I could get reasonably pleasing results, I proceeded to get to work with Ahriman.

 As usual, I painted the model in smaller pieces. I first painted most of the base, knowing it would be trickier to paint the slain Space Wolf with the main model standing over it. I also didn't attach the backpack until the very end, once the model was nearly completely painted. The Blood for the Blood God around the Space Wolf's corpse was only added after varnishing.
I also painted some eldritch glow on the model's extended arm's palm. I did that by drybrushing from lighter to darker colours, sort of the opposite it's done when highlighting.

Unlike on the one painted by the 'Eavy Metal team, I painted my Ahriman's cloak and loincloth purple, as he has on the box set. Bone or papyrus coloured fabric might have suited the Space Egyptian look better, but I think the purple somewhat foreshadows Ahriman's future, as if transitioning from red armour to blue.

I will have plenty of models to assemble and paint in the box in the future. I suspect this individual Thousand Sons legionnary will be an exception, and most of them won't be assembled with standard parts. At least not with the Space Wolves, who would not really look the part without at least some pelts and tooth amulets. Similarly, I can give the Thousand Sons some scarabs and other thematic decorations, though I will have to do some research to know what is appropriate for which models.