XXIII. Iron Hands and Future Plans

I finally finished my second Iron Hand Astartes. Yes, it did take far too long. I've been suffering from complete hobby burn out for the last few months, but I realised just a couple of days ago, that the way through it is to force myself to paint.

With the new year looming, I'm in resolution mode and I've been agonising about the future direction of my hobbying. I feel like I need to adopt a more disciplined approach and I'm considering a fresh start.

In the new year I'm almost certainly going to replace this blog with a new one. The main reason is I'm being persuaded that Blogger isn't the best platform around, but I also want to find the discipline to make more regular posts. I think a fresh start will help. I'm aiming for a post a fortnight - if I feel that every two weeks I have to have something worth posting then it'll motivate me to actually do something :)

However, I also feel like I'm at a potential crossroads in subject matter. The truth is I remain torn between the Horus Heresy and more traditional 40k as a setting.

When I look at what Forge World is putting out and compare it with GW's current work, the decision is an easy one. I love FW's models and the quality of those big, black Horus Heresy books is unsurpassed in the entire hobby. However, I find myself missing that part of the 41st millennium that GW seems to (mostly) ignore. Hive worlds, Death Cults, Genestealer covens, Inquisitors, cultists and the Adepta Sororitas. It's a tough choice.

The catalyst that made me start doubting my choices was a novel. Having ploughed through another Horus Heresy novel (and it really did start to feel like a chore reading another 200+ pages about space marines fighting space marines and feeling like the series has just stagnated), I bought the first book in the new Beast Arises series, "I am Slaughter". Halfway through and I'm gripped. The post-Heresy setting is so rich and characterful.

Now, admittedly, I felt the same reaction to the first Horus Heresy novel, "Horus Rising". Perhaps I just like beginnings? But when I made this mini (next thing I intend to paint) some time ago;

I sat back and thought, "That looks a lot more 40k than Heresy". Perhaps I was trying to tell myself something?

XVIII Onward!

It's been a whole month with no news, but I've not been totally idle. I've started painting a couple of minis but, so far, finished neither.

Duke Ko is coming along nicely. I'm delighted with how he manages to look both regal and creepy. I've also started work on my second 'Art Scale' Iron Hand.

XVI. Building in Iron

I did some work on building Iron Hand number two today. He's more or less finished and ready to paint, but I'll probably set him aside for a while. I'm increasingly finding that if I come back to a mini after a break from it, I can spot how it needs to be improved.

XV. Super Creeps

Everyone has gone a little Mechanicum/Mechanicus crazy, including me ... and I haven't even bought the new kits yet. The last couple of days has seen a 100 percent increase in the number of Murder Servitors I have built. I can now boast a squad of two,

Meanwhile, work continues on my second Iron Hand astartes. The legs have been extended and I've finished the torso.

The next step will be to finish the legs by adding the armour plates to cover the pteruges.

XIII. The Medusan

Legionary Azuhk has joined the Immortals. The gloom that has enveloped the Astartes lies heaviest on him and, despite all protestations, Azuhk is convinced he has failed his Primarch.

"I will find redemption in killing the traitors", he told me. I hope the Emperor watches over him.

~J

Finished and I'm very happy with how he's turned out. I'd love to say he will be the first of many, but more likely he'll be the first of a few.

And because size does matter, here's a couple of scale shots;

XII. Auto-clade

This is a busy time at work and I'm not getting as much hobby time as I'd like. My first Astartes is coming along though. I'm going to try a big push this weekend to get him finished.

As always though, a big reason he's taking time to complete is my total inability to stick to one job at a time. I've been distracted working on a couple of other miniatures.

The first is a Murder Servitor. These appear in the third Horus Heresy rule book from Forge World and are described as skull faced and armed with crude cutting and stabbing weapons. I kit-bashed this creature from a Dark Eldar Wrack with a head made from a servo skull.

The second is a Cydonian Sister, one of the tech-adept assassins of the Mechanicum. More Dark Eldar bits, a Fantasy Dark Elf witch and a head made from half a servo skull, half a sister of slaughter head and a bit of green stuff to blend it all together.

IX. Wall of Iron

The Astartes terrify me. Each is a colossus of ceramite and iron. Each is a glowering, melancholic presence on the ship ... and I fear, that since that terrible time I am forbidden to mention, each is slowly loosing his mind.

~J

The build of my first art-scale marine is pretty much complete and he's ready for some paint.

Since I'm aiming for the Iron Hands after the death of their primarch, I want them to look slightly unhinged and as much a danger to their allies as to their foes. This first Astartes has a chain, ending in a cruel hook hanging from his belt, next to the skull of an executed traitor. Oaths of moment are nailed to the armour of his left leg.

I was wary of taking these element too far and perhaps making him look like a traitor, rather than a loyalist who's loosing his marbles. Maybe with the next one I'll push it a but further.

VIII. Building on a Theme

When I first decided that the Horus Heresy was where my interest lay, I was faced with the problem of having to decide what the ordinary men and women of that time looked like. The release of Forge World's Solar Auxilia has been an absolute godsend in this regard and they have really helped me cement my ideas. I see many people online describing them as having a 'steampunk' look but to me they are definitely more 'deiselpunk'.

It's a slight distinction perhaps to some people and I think often anything with a retro look gets lumped in with 'steampunk', but to my mind the difference in clear. The Solar Auxilia would not have looked out of place in an episode of the old 1930s Flash Gordon. So, out with the 41st Millennium gothic medievalism and in with the Art Deco retro-futurism. Think Flash Gordon and Metropolis with an injection of the grimdark.

Someone on Dakka suggested that I might want to use cataphracti pattern terminator legs to build art scale marines. They were spot on. The cataphractii legs have that wonderful cog pattern running around the soles of their feet which fit perfectly with the Iron Hands. This is where I'm at;

What started as an experiment, seems to be working beautifully. I've hopefully managed to build a marine with the bulk, height and power I was after.

The Quartermaster is getting a bit of a make over too, to fit better with the deiselpunk aesthetic. I've lost track of how many months I've been working on this one miniature, but I want to get him perfect to be the benchmark for everything else I go on to create. Gone are the medieval, ruffled sleeves and the sword (which I was never happy with) is being replaced with an Art Deco looking laspistol. I'm also thinking of trying to remove the purity seal from his waist. Is it just too 40k looking? I don't know; some of Forge World's Horus Heresy miniatures do have what look like purity seals modeled onto them so perhaps I can get away with it.

Thanks for reading and a Very Merry Christmas.