Gian’s Mini Madness

Tactical Squad Garin, 2nd Century, 49th Company, Imperial Fists Legion

Formerly a Breacher specialist unit, Squad Garin was honoured to be part of the fleet of Alexis Pollux that was dispatched to return Horus to Terra in chains. Upon translation into the Phall system the Imperial Fist fleet was set upon by the Iron Warriors legion. During counter boarding actions the squad sustained heavy casualties with only 6 of those who set out from Terra surviving to see the birth world of humanity once again.

Due to the impending arrival of Horus’ fleet Garins’s squad was brought back up to full strength with some of the last new recruits from the legions home world of Inwit. Due to specialism needed to fight in the squads former Breacher role it was decided to repurpose them as a tactical squad. They saw action throughout the battle for Terra, acting as a mobile reserve at the outer wall. The final fate of the squad is unknown they were last seen fighting outside the Eternity Gate as it was shut behind them.

So was last Sunday I woke up to a pretty cool surprise that I’d won a golden button for my last post on the blog. Which gave my the drive to put the finishing touches to a space marine tactical squad.

So this is the latest in what is the latest in what is a fairly extensive collection of Space Marines (approx 30,000 points the last time I counted). Although they have received a lot less attention in recent years and many of the models are not painted to a great standard.

As you can imagine I’ve come up with quite an extensive backstory for this chapter and what they’re up to currently, which I’ll defiantly need to put to paper at some point.

These guys came from Andrew Mays amazing Necropolis range which have been featured on the weekender a few times. When I first saw these guys they just screamed John Blanche style paint job to me, so this is something I’ve tried to incorporate into the minis paint job.

As with all great minis an appropriate back story was needed. So here they are, some of the members of Van Helstug’s mercenary caravan

Cabin Boy James and Sister Josephine 

James can often be heard telling the rest of the group about his time serving on the flagship of Admiral Von Hopfberg of the imperial navy and how he was there the day they defeated the infamous axe wielding pirate Lord Barnabus on the silver straits north of Marienburg. Although Herr Dokter Freiburg who served his time in the milita of Marienburg insists that James bares a striking resemblance to the wanted posters of a certain pirate lord.

Sister Josephine was in a former life a noviciate in an order of the Sisters of Sigmar, a life she had not chosen for herself. Following an attack on her sects hold by a band of Beastmen she used the following confusion to escape into the wider world.

Herr Dokter and Widow Bertha

The Herr Dokter as mentioned previously has plied his trade far and wide across the empire. Having served in everything from the Marienburg militia to the royal colleges of Altdorf. He has recently found himself on the run from a particularly vindictive watch guard from Ostenmark following an incident over a barrel of Bugmans XXXXXX. 

Widow Bertha joined the caravan 10 years previous, her husband had marched to war as part of the grand army of the empire against the vile hordes from the north. Everyday she applied her makeup as she waited for her husband to return home from the war. As time went on and Bertha saw other husbands limp home she decided that it was time to go and find her beloved. She joined the caravan to travel the empire and ask at each village if anyone and seen her husband who marched to war all those years ago. 

Grober and Cookie

Grober was once a promising trainee in the halls of the Greatsword regiments of Ostermark. Following a drunken incident with an angry mule he was left aesthetically mutilated and was banished from the regiments barracks for it. He has ever since toured the Empire fighting in its name even if unofficially.

Cookie is the longest serving member of the caravan having been there longer than any other member, she can be found nightly around the campfire cooking a meal for the rest. Talk  has at times moved towards her tendency to disappear following a battle but this usually stop when she reappears with fresh meat for the pot.

Antrec and Farm Boy Thomact

Antrec has been with the caravan ever since boyhood ever since he was found in the ruins of an ambushed trade convoy, Cookie took him in raised him as the caravans own. His face remains covered at most times due to injuries received as a boy in the ambush, no one has ever told him that Van Helstug’s group were actually employed to protect the convoy but were late to the meet up point.

Farm boy Thomact has a sad story indeed, a farm hand in a village in northern Hochland he was well known in the surrounding area for his blonde hair and blue eyes. One day when trying to impress the blacksmiths daughter he snuck into the den of hermit wizard in the old forest, unfortunately for Thomact the Jade wizard did not take kindly to this intrusion and cursed him for his pig headedness. Upon seeing the reaction his new visage provoked he ran away from his village never to return and so paranoid is he by his looks that he won’t allow even his sword to maintain a shine lest he sees his own reflection. Unbeknownst to him if he had only staid in his village the night the Jade wizard returned looking for the boy to reverse the spell.

So after 2 years without posting anything I’ve finally taken some pictures of what I’ve been up to. Now I’ve not been completely inactive over that time but with life and work getting in the way there definitely been a reduction in my hobbying this accompanied by a lot of hobbies sitting at 90% complete hasn’t helped.

These guys were bought a few months ago in a made to order by GW, they’ve not been available in a long time and it’s always been my favourite Legolas and Gimli sculpt.

After re watching some XLBS’ and seeing some horses Gerry painted up I got into a bit of horse painting vibe and decided to break out some Lord of the Rings minis.

Eowyn

One of my favourite things about the Lord of the Ring range is the characters, there really is just something special about painting the characters I grew up with.

Riders of Rohan 

This is one of a group of Dwarf minis I got years ago from Oathsworn minis first KS, I’d actually forgotten about these guys until I found them when reorganising my pile of unpainted minis and found these down the back of a cupboard. This mini in particular stood out to me as it reminded me of one of my favourite scenes from the Return of the King.

My painting habits are a bit odd, the only army I truly collect are Chaos for 40k and formally loyalist marines and these tend to only get painted during the summer months  for the ETL over on Bolter and Chainsword, with the rest of the year being used for building Chaos marines and painting individual minis I like. Due to COVID, however, the ETL has been postponed and so the first squad I’ve painted up for the year for once have not been wearing power armour.

These mini’s landed at my doorstep a few month’s back but due to other commitments I was only able to get round to them now. These really are a cool set of minis, the main thing I noticed about these minis is the lack of fillers each Halfling feels like his own unique character. Warploque have also come up with some really cool background, with the Halflings pushing into the forests of Mildaark and coming up against all sorts of creatures. I attempted to convey this woodland background on the bases especially with undergrowth and fallen trees.

So it wasn’t until after I’d finished the models that I realised the gold the leader has his foot on actually a sack of gold not a pot which is what I’d painted it as (guess it’s my inner Irish assuming it’s a pot of gold).

Got to say I’m getting a very Samwise vibe off this fellow.

And finally the whole gang ready to go exploring in the woods. Next on the painting bench is some of the Spartans from Mythic Battles or a Dwarf from an old Oathsworn kick starter.

++ Battle Sister Keanta Order of the Sacred Rose ++

++ As seen at Evacuation Zone 154 on the last day of Cadia ++

++ Believed to be deceased ++

So for this update I’ve got one of the character pieces that came with The Faceless a board game I backed on KS by alter ego games. While it only came with 4 minis each is brimming with character and have a very cool horror style too them.

So after receiving a massive box from CMoN about 4 years ago filled to the brim with miniatures I have finally gotten round too painting one of them. One of the main reasons I bought into the KS is because of the wide range of characterful miniatures that come in it.

The great thing is that the minis are so textured that you really can get great results from some very simple techniques.

 Ancient Brother Men’et

XII legion, 144th Company

Men’et as seen following deployment on the eighth day of the siege of Terra, his burnt out husk was found by Imperial Fist recovery teams following the siege. The honour of killing the traitor would go unclaimed for over a century until a pict-recording from an ancient suit of armour was recovered showing the kill belonged to Brother Egber of the Imperial Fists 49th company before his position was over run by the forward elements of the World Eater advance.

 Ancient Brother Men’et

XII legion, 144th Company

Men’et as seen following deployment on the eighth day of the siege of Terra, his burnt out husk was found by Imperial Fist recovery teams following the siege. The honour of killing the traitor would go unclaimed for over a century until a pict-recording from an ancient suit of armour was recovered showing the kill belonged to Brother Egber of the Imperial Fists 49th company before his position was over run by the forward elements of the World Eater advance.