40k Deathwing Terminators by Bothi
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About the Project
A buddy and I challenged each other to paint 500pts (or 25 power) of 40k every 6 weeks. We would do this 4 times so we each end up with a 2000 pts (or 100 power) 40k army. We call these iterations blocks. After each block we would meet up and have a game with all the minis we painted so far and possibly the minis for the next block.
I decided to finally paint my 10 years old Deathwing Terminators and my buddy went for his Thousand Sons. A lot of my models are actually from the second edition from 40k and are full metal. I did a lot of rework on these bringing them into more dynamic poses. And of course everything was rebased from those 25mm bases.
Related Game: Warhammer 40,000
Related Company: Games Workshop
Related Genre: Science Fiction
This Project is Active
Ravenwing Apothecary
Last but not least: the Ravenwing Apothecary. Yes he is also part of the Inner Circle. I believe that is because he is part of the Black Knights and they are responsible for hunting the Fallen before calling in the Deathwing to finish them.
This model is a conversion as well. I used an Outrider-Bike from the Indomitus Box. But I proped up the handles a bit to give it more of a Chopper-Look. The Shoulder Pad is actually the one from the Ravenwing Apothecary set. The Reductor-Arm and the Packpack are from Kromlech (unfortunately they were of quite poor Quality). The Head I believe is from the Deathwing Knights set. The Plasmaguns are from MkIV Horus Heresy sets. And the Pistol is from the Primaris Apothecary.
This will conclude my work on this project for now. But I will definately take it up again sometime in the future.
Ezekiel, Master of the Keys
And here comes the Man himself: Ezekiel. “This looks a bit different”, you say? Well, glad you asked! As the guy is sold out everywhere and mistreated ebay minis with 3 far-too-thick-coats made out of failcast are no option for me, I had to built my own Ezekiel. I tried to stay as true to the original posture as possible. This is a combination of the Librarian and the Master from the Dark Vengeance Box and a few bits and bobs here and there. I included a picture of the original at the end.
Chaplain with Jumppack, Chainsword and the Cup of Retribution
So I finished the Chaplain for the List. Technically not a Terminator but still Inner Circle. So I think we can let this one go. Same goes for the next two. Ezekiel and a Ravenwing Apothecary will be next.
I also tried the 64M Modus of the new Camera. Until now I like it.
Another Troop of Knights
So to complete the “normal Troops” for the list I am currently playing I had to paint up five more Deathwing Knights. Wonderful and extremely cool models. Just hard to get you hands on them at the moment. Sold out everywhere.
I did some minor conversions on the stances and how they are holding their maces. Also the Master can have two weapons to be used as a normal Knights as well as the Master (if I decide to run a 10 man Troop).
Also I am still getting used to the new camera.
Next up will be 3 more Characters.
... so I ordered a Thunderhammer and Stormshield at Five Guys!
3 Bolter Dudes with 2 Cyclones and 1 Ancient walk into a Bar...
Next up is a bit more ranged firepower and some support. 3 Stormbolter and Powerfist Terminators – two with a magnetized Cyclone Missle Launcher – and the Ancient for the new and totally imbalanced “Pennant of Remembrance”. The Banner is also magnetized above the fist for transportation reasons.
Just as a reminder, these are all the super old metal Terminators from the second Edition of 40k (with a few plastic/resin bits used here and there). I still remember “fondly” when I converted them like 10+ years ago. Lets say a lot of Green Stuff and Brute Force was involved.
Also I had a bit of a misshap with the Airbrush on the OSL of the Ancients Thunderhammer. I got some color built up on the needle and it kinda splashed on the model. It looks still ok in real life, but when you zoom in on the pics you can see the splatter.
Back in Business: 5 Relic Termis
It’s been over 2 years since I last worked on this project. And with the new Dark Angels Supplement for 40k, I decided to revisit this army and paint up a few more Minis.
But in those 2 years a lot has changed. Colors had dried up. I at least tried to improve my edge highlighting. Contrast paints were invented. I bought an Airbrush. I moved, got a new job. What do you know…
So I decided to stay more or less true to the look of the army, but also try to improve on my older techniques. Here is what changed to instructions far below:
- edge highlighting with the side of the brush and not the tip (why did nobody tell me that before)
- much more diluted paints
- OSL via the airbrush
- replacing all the greens, reds, greys and browns with their new contrast paint counter parts
- magnetizing a few weapon options here and there
- buying a new can of dip
- using a much larger brush for drybrushing
- using some technical paints for lenses and lasersights
But. I am still a speed painter at heart. So I “only” spent a bit over an hour on each of these. Less than 6 hours for the entire squat (excluding some breaks to let the dip dry etc.)
BatRep: Deathwing vs Thousand Sons
If you’ve read the project description you might have recognized, that I did this challenge together with a friend. In December we decided to pick up our armies from that project again and have another game against each other.
It was a really friendly narrative 40k game in which he had to assault a position of mine. I had to dig in (some rules giving me +1 saving throws in addition to cover) and he had infinite reserves (every dead unit just comes back).
As I was not allowed to deep strike I set up my Terminators – most of them are geared towards melee – as far to the front as I could. So I actually could get into melee and keep my opponent from reaching the objective.
As he had the first turn for sure, my opponent decided to bring his first wave as far to the front as possible aswell. The fight was on.
The first turns went really well for me. I could soak up a lot of damage with my Stormshield and Terminator Armour and my opponent failed most of his psychic powers or I was able to deny them. I even got into a few melees and killed nearly the entire first wave.
But after a few turns my small force started to dwindle and the Sons kept attacking wave after wave. Near the end I was down to three Terminators running havoc in the Sons deployment area (they kept making saves and charging and charging and charging…) and the Cyclone squad inside one of the buildings.
I was scoring 2 Victory Points for every unit I killed. He got 1 VP for every of his units in my deployment area, 2 VP for every of his units behind my deployment area and an extra two if he controlled the objective. One squad of Rubricks made it to the objective scoring 4 VP on their own (2 for the objective and 2 for being behind my lines). But I managed to kill enough and won that match very closely 14 to 11.
It was a really fun game and there will be more in the future. Leave some nice words for my buddy. The Thousand Sons are the first army he ever painted. I make sure to forward them to him.
Pics: Friendly Games
Just wanted to share some pics with you guys of this army and the minis of my speed painting challenge ( 40K-SPEEDPAINTING-CHALLENGE: A BATTALION OF KASRKIN IN ONE WEEKEND ) took after a few friendly games.
Block 4: Scriptor, Apothecary and a Squad of Knights
The 31st of August is closing in and so the 500p Challenge is nearing its end. In my last Block I painted a Scriptor in Terminator Armour, a Apothecary in Terminator Armour and a 5-man squad of Deathwing Knights.
With them the Challenge is completed and my buddy and I each managed to paint an 2000 points / 100 power army over 7 month. Feels good to finally get those really old models painted.
There are still models left for this army and who knows maybe I even add some more in the future. I definately will post some pics from future BatReps. But for the moment the project will go on hold as I have a lot of other projects to do next.
Hope you enjoyed this project so far. It’s not over… but it will be some time…
Tutorial on Speed-OSL, step by step
As I was asked how I paint my OSL, I decided to make a step by step guide. To be clear upfront this method is designed to be fast and achieve a result that is ok for a tabletop standard. Nothing more.
I struggled with OSL for years. I tried lot’s of tutorials and most of them were about thinning down your paints really intensly and put up many many layers of colors in shrinking circles. I achieved mediocre results with this. Most of the time the color pooled in areas where the light should not be or didn’t cover other colors. Othertimes the color was too thick and I could not get it where I wanted it. I saw painters achieving incredible results with this method, but I was not able to replicate them. I only use this method today on space marines eyes as they only have a really small glow. On the Terminators in this project it’s a single layer of thinned down red.
As I started painting these Terminators I was still using the “thin-down-method” and was really unhappy with the result. So I watched more tutorials and found one which talked about not thinning your color but thickening it with a heavy white. I use Model Color Foundation White (70.919), which is actually more like a paste than a color. The guide said:
- Define your lightsource
- Start with the base color
- For every layer mix more white in until you get to pure white
- Drybrush / overbrush shrinking circles from your lightsource outwards
- Always move the brush directly away from the light source
So I started to experiment with this method and achieved much better results. I don’t think the method is superior to the thin-down-method, but I do think that it is faster and much easier to achieve.
My step by step will be on the Scriptor for these Deathwing Terminators. It’s again a quite old full metal model. I think I have it since 2nd Edition of 40k. I retrofitted it with some mix out of a Force Stave/Axe and changed his pose to one inspired by the last scene from Platoon. Where Charlie Sheen is choppered away and his “buddy” is streching out his arms holding a stave and his M16.
I used two colors of OSL here. Purple (Army Painter Alien Purple) on the Psi Matrix and Blue (GW Ultramarine Blue) on the Force Weapon, as I did on all the Terminators. I defined my lightsource to be the 3 holders of the Psi Matrix (on top of the forehead and to the sides of the ears), the generator on the Force Weapon and the blade of the Force Weapon.
The Purple is painted in 5 steps (first being pure purple, last being pure white) and the Blue is painted in 6 steps (again first being pure blue, last being pure white). Unfortunately I think I forgot to take a pic of the 4th step. But you’ll get the idea. I’ll mention brush sizes, the smaller one is on the purple
It took me a little over half an hour to create these two effects. But I had to take photos in between, so 30 mins should cut it.
I hope this helps someone who struggles with OSL as I have. I still am always nervous before painting this steps, but I manage to achieve quite consistent results with this method.
I mix the colors on a wet palette. I put both colors and white down and then mixed more and more white into the colors, step by step. Working them towards each other, in a way. I also took pics of the palette. Maybe someone will enjoy them 😀
Block 3: Grand Master, Techmarine and 2 Dreadnoughts
After finishing 20 Terminators through the first two Blocks I needed some heavy hitters in this Block. So I went for two Dreadnoughts with their supporting Techmarine and the Grand Master.
The Grand Master is a resin model from Scibor converted to wield a Thunder Hammer. The base comes with it. It’s nearly the same paint scheme described in the Block 1 post but with a few more details. Mostly I applied two highlighting steps instead of one.
And of course he is named Bothial (the Incredulous), a mix of my Nickname and Belial the actual Grand Master of the Deathwing. Really happy how he turned out.
Next up is the Techmarine. Actually there are no Temrinator Techmarines, but they have a 2+ Armour save so I went for a conversion. It is an old metal Terminator from Second Edition and some parts from a metal Techmarine like from 10 years ago.
On to the first of two Dreadnoughts. The Banner is magentized and an embossed plastic from GW. The rest of the model is the old full metal Dark Angels Dreadnought by GW from like 15 years ago. With the resin base this model nears a pound in weight. So if someone kills it you can actually kill him right back by throwing this at his head.
I reposed the legs and the arms. The lasercannon arm also has another angle to make him look like a gangster firing his baretta.
His name is “Semper” and he doubles as a “normal” Dread (without banner) and a venerable Dread (with banner).
Last but not least “Silere” the second Dreadnought. Again it is full metal, but the body is from 2nd edition Blood Angels Dread this time. The arms are the same ones as above from the DA Dread from 2nd Edition. The Banner is printed and then put in pose with PVA and glue. It is pinned, so it is removeable for transportation or to demote the Dread from venerable status to “normal”.
Again a bit of reposing on the legs and arms. And of course the currently being launched rocket.
Block 2 Celebration: 75 power game
As my buddy was very busy getting married we only had our celebration game well into the third block during the third week of June. We played 75 power with all the minis from block 1-3. Meaning that 50 power would already be painted and another 25 would be work in progress.
The game was much better, as the armies were nearer to where they are supposed to be at 100 power with all 4 blocks worth of models. It went a bit both ways at first, but then my buddy pulled away with some good psi tests and tabled me at the end of round 6. The score was 11:8 at that point in his favor.
Block 2: 10 Deathwing Terminators + Watcher in the Dark
To bolster the mainstay of my army further I painted up 10 more Terminators for my Deathwing list during the second block. This is an nearly entire melee oriented squad with two assault cannons. They are supposed to stay together, drop behind the enemy lines and cause some havoc.
Block 1 Celebration: 50 power game
We had our celebration game during the third week of march. Unfortunately it seems that I can’t find the photos. The game was a bit awkward due to the strange lists, but we had a lot of fun fielding our first painted 40k minis in a long time.
If I remember correctly I tabled my buddy in turn 3 due some incredibly dice rolling. The current score was 9:5 in my favor.
Block 1: 10 Deathwing Terminators + Watcher in the Dark
During the first Block I finished a 10 man squad of Deathwing Terminators plus corresponding Watcher in the Dark. These are supposed to form two combat squads. One with alle the melee guys and the other with the stormbolters and both cyclone missle launchers. The melee squad will take the Watcher.
Painting steps:
- base coat: skeleton bone from a rattle can
- drybrush: entire model with white
- base colors: GW Red Gore, GW Dark Angels Green, GW Balthasar Gold, AP Black, Vallejo Gun Metal, Vallejo Flat Brown
- edge highlighting: GW Blood Red, GW Purtid Green, Vallejo Gold, Vallejo Uniform Grey (for the Black Parts) and GW Graveyard Earth (for the Brown)
- feathers and sigils: starting with pure black and mixing in 5-6 steps lighter colors up to pure white
- bases: putrid green => large overbrush with black => soft drybrush with uniform grey => a lot of GW Martian Ironcrust
- dipping: I use a 3:2 dilution of AP Quickshade Soft Tone (from the large 250ml pot) and common paint thinner, applying the dip with a brush
- mattcoating: 3:1 mix of AP Anti Shine (from the dropper bottle) and GW ‘Ardcoat for most of the model, pure AP Anti Shine on feathers and sigils, pure GW ‘Ardcoat on the black stones (making them really shiny)
- washing: GW Nuln Oil on the metal parts and GW Carroburg Crimson on the red parts of the base.
- osl on eyes: a simple single very thinned down coat of GW Blood Red (like 10 parts water on 1 part paint) around the eyes.
- osl on power weapons: starting with pure GW Ultramarines Blue, then a 1:1 mix with GW Shadow Grey (this is more of a light blue), then pure GW Shadow Grey, then mixing in 3-4 steps to pure white. First painting a huge area and then getting more and more into da drybrush on smaller areas
- bases: drybrush with GW Martian Ironcrust on the red parts
- finishing details: AP Black on gun barrel insides, GW Blood for the Bloodgod on wounds and non-power-melee weapons (like chainfists), whitening some skulls on the armour, scripture on the sigils
- black rim: just AP Black on the rim of the bases
Block 0: Planning
As said in the project description I was going to paint my really old Deathwing Terminators. Some of the models are quite new, but some are more than 10 years old. I did a lot of rework on most of them, making them jumping and flying around with their power claws and thunder hammers. I built them a few years back but never got around to paint them. So here is the list I am going to paint:
Block 1 – 01.02.2018 till 15.03.2018
- 10 Deathwing Terminators + Watcher in the Dark = 25 power
Block 2 – 16.03.2018 till 30.04.2018
- 10 Deathwing Terminators + Watcher in the Dark = 25 power
We planned a hiatus of a month (May) between Blocks 2 and 3 so my buddy could get married.
Block 3 – 01.06.2018 till 15.07.2018
- Master in Terminator Armour = 7 power
- Techmarine in Terminator Armour = 4 power
- 2 venerable Dreadnoughts = 16 power
Block 4 – 16.07.2018 till 31.08.2018
- Librarian in Terminator Armour = 8 power
- Apothecary in Terminator Armour = 4 power
- 5 Deathwing Knights = 12 power
The rules are very simple. You have to finish the model of a block until the last day 23:59. You are allowed to base coat everything at once (due to weather problems and base coating with a rattle can). You are not allowed to start working on models for a future block any further until the first day of the block.