40k Hobby Weekend – Dan Does Militarum Tempestus

For the 40k Hobby Weekend, I really wanted to take part and a Digital Ticket was the way to do that given that I have used up all my holiday from work for the year!  The tough bit was choosing what Start Collecting box to go for.  My main 40k army is Adeptus Mechanicus.  Adding to that would be great, but the problem is that I have the contents of the Skitarii Start Collecting box several times over in my unpainted pile so there was no point buying another one.  I’ve wanted to create my own Space Marines chapter for a while, but I am loathe to buy any until I see how the Primaris takeover shakes down. If ‘little’ marines are phased out then I don’t want to waste time starting with them, and at the time of signing up, there wasn’t a Primaris Start Collecting available (there is now though).

The army that grabbed me the most is the Daemons of Slaanesh.  The problem there is that I don’t see how I could paint even a single miniature in a weekend, let alone a box of them.  They are just so beautiful, I couldn’t bring myself to speed paint them, and I really don’t need another long term project.

So I have surprised myself by going for Militarum Tempestus.  Imperial Guard are probably the faction I have least liked historically, they were way too ‘normal’ for my sci-fi tastes.  However…figures with rebreathers and gas masks really do something to me (I’m not sure what, but it is strangely compelling!).  The prospect of getting a Kill Team up and running of elite Guard troops was an interesting prospect, and so the decision was made.

I am determined not to put any paint on the models until the weekend itself (I really want to see what I can do in one weekend) hence I am prattling on here to stop me from fiddling with them!

I had a quick look at the wiki to see what regiment I wanted to go for.  The first thing was to see what colour scheme I liked the look of.  The one that jumped out immediately was the 22nd Thetoid Gryphonnes.  I think they had a brief mention in an earlier Imperial Guard codex, the contents of which are now on the wiki.

The synopsis sounds compelling:

“Though all Militarum Tempestus warriors excel at fast trikes upon the battlefield, the 22^nd Thetoid Gryphonnes are especially swift. Their Scions were all orphaned from Tallix, a world of higher gravity than is typical for the Rebandus Sub-sector.

As a result their leg muscles are more powerful and they are able to race on foot across all terrain with an impressive pace no matter how much equipment they carry. In the spirit of this, even the gravitational systems on their Taurox Primes have been altered so their vehicles sacrifice a degree of stability and durability for greater speed.”

So I like the back story and the colour scheme.  I’ll see how it goes with the painting.  I think I’ve worked out the naming conventions for these troops so if I decide to deviate from this scheme, I’ll call them the 19th Sigmic Gryphonnes.  Job’s a goodun’!

Painting area clear of all the other half finished projects.  Room for another one!

I have yet to establish a photo setup that I am happy with indoors so I’m going for the natural light option which seems to work ok (provided these dark clouds part at some point!)

Tempestus Assemble!

I decided I wanted the squad to be specialists in toxic environments. So it would be a bit suspicious if the Commissar could breathe normally! Slight conversion required..

I’m going to paint the whole Start Collecting box but already thinking about games/lists. I’m going to need to buy more troops to make a 40k detachment but I have everything I need to make a Kill Team with models to spare.

++ Kill Team List (Astra Militarum) [97pts] ++

+ Configuration +

List Configuration: Matched Play: Kill Team

+ Commander +

Lord Commissar [30pts]: Plasma Pistol, Power Sword
. Leadership

+ Leader +

Tempestor [13pts]: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. Leader

+ Specialists +

Scion [9pts]: Hot-shot lasgun
. Veteran

Scion [14pts]: Hot-shot lasgun
. Scout
. Vox Caster + Hot-shot laspistol: Vox Caster

Scion Gunner [13pts]: Hot-shot volley gun
. Sniper

+ Non-specialists +

Scion [9pts]: Hot-shot lasgun

Scion [9pts]: Hot-shot lasgun

++ Total: [97pts] ++

Primed with Vallejo black primer through the airbrush and then a super subtle zenith with a 50:50 mix of Vallejo Black and Vallejo Black Grey. So a dark kind of dark!

I want a hint of shade but the armour overall needs to be black so didn’t want to overdo it.

Final piece of airbrushing is to give some base colour to the fleg, er, I mean flag, er, banner? Whatever it is, it’s the last thing to receive airbrush treatment. Out with the horse hair next.

Well there I was all set to batch paint the troops.. Howver, while the very first wash was drying I thought I’d just put some initial colours on the banner..then got a bit carried away and the evening vanished. The good news is that by taking the miniature ‘almost’ to completion I have my colour scheme sorted and confirmed that I’ll be doing 22nd Thetoid Gryphonnes pretty much true to their original codex appearance.

Hopefully I can get him some friends today!

Saturday lunchtime and well into the hard yards now. Batch painting all the common colours. Nothing fancy to describe here – just getting the paint on!

I wish this side of the fleg was the front but hey ho…

I completely forgot I agreed to go to a BBQ followed by a rock night…Oh well…Little plastic soldiers take a back seat AGAIN! But at least I am on brand…

I might actually be in danger of finishing the troops. Still a bit scruffy but the end is in sight..

Finally to round out the Start Collecting box, the Taurox. I don’t need it for Kill Team but it would be wrong not to finish properly!

Again not for Kill Team but I’m going to add a Vindicare Assassin. I was chatting to my brother about the project and he said the Vindicare would match the aesthetic really well (colour scheme, mask etc). I violently agreed, so he’s about to get painted up too.

Oh dear this is turning into a full 40k army isn’t it?!