My Progress So Far

Considering that on the 1st December 2013 I had only 1 single Tactical Squad completed, I am very happy with the number of units I can now present which are fully painted. Next up is my 2nd Dreadnought, Assault Marines, Drop Pod and then on to Centurions, Sternguard, 3rd Tactical Squad... and the list goes on!

If I can continue at this rate I could be looking at having my entire army fully painted by March/April time! Just in time for moving on to something different. Orks maybe?

WTF is... Space Marine

I know this Space Marine was released back in 2011 but I was surfing YouTube the other day and came across this first impression video published by the wonderful TotalBiscuit. I remember watching this upon its release and being very impressed by the game... and I did later pick it up. Anyway, I do love this video and so I figured I would post about it in case anyone who reads this blog has missed out on such a great vid.

Its very unusual for TB to be so 'fanboyish' and I think you can really visualize the glee on his face as he plays through the demo.

Enjoy

Elite: Dreadnought

I absolutely love the Venerable Dreadnought model. I picked this unit up in May last year but only managed to get around to painting it over the last couple of weeks. Thanks to the advice of Jai, from Games Workshop Bath, I picked this model up instead of the traditional variant. I have used it as both a standard and also a Venerable Dreadnought but this model is far superior [to the bog standard model] in my opinions and so when I realised that there was nothing stopping me from picking up the Venerable model it was a done deal!

After reading some forums for effective layouts for Dreadnoughts I picked up a couple of the Forgeworld Autocannon weapons and these are the weapons which can be seen on the photo above. I have to admit that I wasn't very impressed with the quality of the weapons- the barrels were warped and the level of detail was very quickly lost under the payers of paint... however for £8 per weapon they werent particularly expensive so its not the end of the world.

 I'm yet to be convinced that the 'rifleman' load out (2 x twin linked Auto-cannons) is viable in 6th... and especially against Chaos (who I battle most regularly) however for fluff centred lists which I tend to go for, it certainly has a place so I will continue to experiment while I paint up the further weapon options.

Troop Transport: Rhino

The good old Rhino!

Back in March '13 my chum Bob (who has his own 40K blog - linked to on the right hand panel) very kindly donated a load of his old Marines and this Rhino model was the first which I re-painted in my chapter colour scheme. 

As mentioned in my previous post; I do enjoy marking up my unit authentically and so this is the 1st Rhino of the Light Knights 2nd Company. The unit is curre

As I painted this model fairly early on in the development of the colour scheme it is actually painted in Fenrisian Grey as opposed to Russ Grey (with Fenrisian Grey being the first highlight layer). Thankfully it doesn't look out of place among my painted units so I'm planning on leaving it as is.. with the hope that no-one will notice!

Troops: 1st Tactical Squad

The first unit which I completed. This is the Tactical Squad unit which is part of the Dark Vengeance boxed set. It is Plasma heavy- with the heavy/special weapons being Plasma Cannon and Plasma Gun respectively.

As this is was my first completed unit I am very happy with how they turned out- especially the sergeants robes! I also had to remove the Dark Angels chapter symbol from the models as it is molded into the cast for these guys. After a few cuts I managed to remove the symbols and cover up any messy knife work with my Raptor chapter symbol which I am using for my home-brew chapter.

Troops: 2nd Tactical Squad

This is the Light Knights Tactical Squad (2nd Company, 2nd Squad) with Melta Gun and Missile Launcher. This unit shows off the chapter colour scheme well- along with the decals which I have chosen to use for my army (Forgeworld Raptor Chapter). The '2' which I have added to the left knee pad represents the marking for the company whilst I have used the appropriate marking on the right shoulder pad to depict that this is the 2nd tactical squad.

I do enjoy organizing my army and adding decals in order to make the army feel a lot more like a 'real' fighting force. My Rhinos are paired with tactical squads and so also gave the relevant markings!

I currently gave 3 tactical squads- squad 1 is done so next up will be squad 3. This will be painted using my new airbrush so I'm interested to see how they will turn out, watch this space for more updates soon :)

Troops: Sniper Scout Squad

I do enjoy a sneaky Scout squad. They are very versatile and I do love the models! These were the first models I picked up alongside those in the Dark Vengeance boxed set. It has taken me the best part of 6 months to complete the squad but I am happy with the result. 

I followed the pattern guide in the How to Paint: Ultramarines digital book which I picked up on the iPad. The scheme is pretty simple but the bit I like the most is the camo cloaks! These guys look awesome with there urban style pattern - I just hope the cloaks don't mean they get forgotten about during any future battles!

HQ: Lysander Conversion

If I could be any character in 40K, it would be this guy! Having played a 'tank' in many MMOs I feel a certain affinity to this chappy. In his first game he went toe-to-toe with some very nasty Chaos marines and did a fine job. So, now whenever I am choosing my Warlord/HQ he was first on the team-sheet!

As you can see from the photo I have converted him a little; replacing his Storm Shield and 'Fist of Dorn' Hammer. I wanted to give him a more unique feel, as he is my alter-ego on the battle field I felt it was important to try and reflect that in the model. The sword was a left over piece from a Grey Knight kit and was surprisingly easy to mod as the hand slotted straight into the space left when I removed the Hammer. In regards to the shield, I felt that the default model was a little too imperial fist like and so I picked up a breaching shield replacement on eBay.

I am happy with how he has come out considering the relatively few hours painting i have gotten under my belt recently. I painted the sword using the guide on painting gems in the Lizardmen edition of white dwarf. the goal was to create a sword which looks how i would imagine the 'Burning Blade' Chapter Relic would appear however I do not use this weapon as I play the model as Lysander.

The Origins of the Light Knights Space Marine Chapter

My first purchase when I returned to the hobby was the Dark Vengeance boxed set. For £60 it is (for GW standards) a bargain and a great way to get you started in the hobby- although I guess that is the point of it! Anyway, once I had DV I had to decide which chapter colour scheme I was going to paint my marines. During this time I was still the Community Manager of the Light Knights and so I decided to try and bring these two elements of my life together.

Whilst the LK were playing a superhero MMO called Champions Online we settled on a 'guild' outfit which was based around a light blue primary and dark blue secondary colour scheme.

The initial colour scheme which I settled on is represented here on the left, and my firs 'test' model is on the right. This colour scheme has developed since these early days and has now been slightly simplified - as well as altering the helmet colour to be more inline with the codex astartes (i.e. Veterans have white helmets, not normal marines). The light blue sections of the armour are painted in the Space Wolf colour scheme and dark Blue follows the Ultramarine scheme.

In my next post I will begin to cover the units which i have currently painted- my Lysander conversion, scout squad and tactical squads. I will also mix these up a little with some more LK chapter fluff.

Setting The Scene

I started playing 40K back in the early nineties after being introduced to Space Crusade/Advanced Space Crusade. I also enjoyed Blood Bowl & Warhammer Quest, but it was the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium and my sanguine Blood Angel Space Marine army which was my first love.

After collecting the army, and playing truly epic, or as one would call it these days, Apocalyptic si\ed battles which would last over the course of a weekend I left the hobby and sold my army around 1997 when I needed to increase my 'Beer Fund'.

Fast forward to January 2013 and my interest in video gaming (which had been all consuming since I left the hobby 15 years previously) was waning. After hearing that a close friend was getting back in to the hobby I figured I would dip my toe back in.

12 months later I can happily report that I am well and truly hooked, and probably to a greater degree than the first time I used to get my little soldiers out as a teenager. My main problem though has been the progress of my painting. I have built up a 3000 point (ish) Space Marine and Grey Knight army. This is a home brew Chapter built on fluff relating to the Light Knights Gaming Community which I founded and led until 6 months ago. Having gone though a lot of changes in my personal life and spending a lot of time at work, I have been unable to churn out the units at a speed which i would like. I want this blog to a provide an extra motivating factor to get units painted, to also log the development of this army (and any future ones!) and to hopefully depict the improvements I make in my technique and ability.

So, on with the show