Freed from Painting Purgatory

The doldrums of painting have come to an end here at Mik's Minis. The above trio of figs have suffered and languished in a seeming perpetual state of incompleteness for far too long. With a new HUD now active I had to clear off the incomplete stuff.

On the left is a Zombpoc survivor that I first started back in October. He was close to finished, but still needed lots of attention in some key areas. In the middle is a Deathwatch trooper painted as a prize giveaway over at the Minions podcast. This one is a good example of a fig lying at the bottom of a bits box with seemingly no future. Finally on the right is a classic Eldar Harlequin that has finally been finished for Tristan over at GW Pertinent. He's got a neat project creating a Harlequin-based Spire Brat gang for Necromunda built entirely of reader-donated models. I went with a darker, Death Jester style that will hopefully contrast nicely with the rest of the gang.


One weakness that cropped up after not painting for so long was crispness and neatness. I went back and tweaked this fig a little more after I took these photos because there was a lot I missed with my first once-over, especially with the backpack. I like this model because he's a Librarian with a large Force Sword and a big, honking Power Fist. Plus, in the world of 40k, characters that don't wear helmets with their power armor amuse me.


Another weakness were eyes, which were never my strongest anyway. I tried here a couple of times before I just said, "That's good enough." I was hesitant to paint the ejection port on the shotgun, since the sculptor obviously couldn't be bothered with it. Ithaca does make such a bottom ejecting shotgun mind you, but it's not the most common so I painted a black rectangle on it after all. I like the way I did his civvies as well.


Finally are some close-ups of Tristan's soon-to-be Spire Brat ganger. It's a neat idea for a gang and honestly one I might have to steal if we ever get back into Necromunda. For the record, the white striping on the leg absolutely killed me, haha. Way back when I had duplicates of this model and for some reason I cut the mohawk off of this one to make it more skeletal. I just hope it holds its own among such excellent company.

So there you have it, these three were in various states of completion and I really did need to finish them off before moving on. Mind you, there was a lot of stuff not even started yet, but that just got shelved, boxed, and squirreled away for another (much later) day. I learned my painting skills were rustier than I could've imagined, so it seems some catching up is in order.

Edit: I know, originally queued for this afternoon, I had to bump it up some to accommodate another post elsewhere. Wheels within wheels!

Outbound Minis

Here's a couple of 40k models that got the shortcut to the front of my queue. Ironically, neither of them will be residing on my shelves, these are export only.

One is an older, third edition Space Marine Librarian updated with some newer gear. He's going to be a Deathwatch Librarian painted up for one of the winners of the Minions of the Monster Master contest that just wrapped up. That's right, just one of many winners!

The second is an old, lead Eldar Harlequin for Tristan of GW Pertinent. He's collecting Eldar Harlequins painted by other people, if you have one laying around paint it up and send it to him. If not, he's got extra Harlequins he will send you to paint up. For this one I'm going with a Death Jester paint scheme.

Assemble the Deathwatch!

After wrapping up the Techmarine the other day I figured it might be a while before I paint any other troopers so I figured a muster shot was in order. I do have three other figures (two regular and one Terminator) to paint up, but they're not even in the HUD so they'll linger a while in the bits bins. Here's the breakdown...

Tactical, Apothecary, and Librarian Ultramarines

Tactical and Techmarine Black Templars

Tactical, Apothecary, and Assault Sons of Minos

Blood Angel and Salamander Tactical Marines

Devastator, Assault, and Tactical Dark Angels

The others I mentioned will get painted up eventually and added here, making for fifteen total Deathwatch troopers and a single Terminator Captain. They are; a White Scars tactical Marine, a Fists (Imperial or Crimson) Assault Marine, and the aforementioned captain whose parent chapter I don't know yet.

Mk6 Deathwatch Techmarine

On the eve of the last Deathwatch RPG game I finished up this figure for one of the players at the table. When rolling up his armor and armor histories he got both the Mark 6 Corvus armor as well as the "xenos foe" history. I don't remember the details exactly but basically his armor has the claw of some alien embedded in it. This old school Techmarine model is perfect for that since it has a Genestealer claw adorning the right shoulder.


Over at Constantly Ricking Obscurity there is an amazingly awesome tutorial on how to make your own servo-arms. It came about a month after I kit-bashed the one you see here, but it's good to know for future reference.


Of all the Deathwatch I figure the Techmarines are the most particular about their equipment, so I kept the backpack/servo-arm and the helmet traditional red. I also painted everything with a lot of wear-and-tear, scratches, dings, and dents. The right pauldron is covered by the Genestealer claw, so you can't see parent chapter livery (this Techmarine is a Black Templar) and the left pauldron looks to be a mass of nuts, bolts, and wires. Not exactly the Deathwatch symbol and crest, but I didn't want to hack up a classic model.

L to R: Librarian, Techmarine, Tactical, Devastator, and Apothecary

Here's the whole five-man team of RPG player character models. There is still one model missing, and that would be Andy's Space Shark assault marine (can't find any pics of it but here's some of his Deathwatch). Our RPG group is a little different from the tabletop group in that most of the RPG guys don't currently paint figures, that's why I painted all of these up for them to use in our Deathwatch sessions.

Last Chance Deathwatch Contest Reminder

Since I'm a co-author on another blog, the Minions of the Monster Master, I try not to double up subject matter with my posts here. However there is a Deathwatch contest going on over there currently that is over tomorrow night so I thought I'd mention it to get the word out.

Also, since I'll probably end up being the one to do the painting for the prize, it's fitting to mention here as well since you'll probably see it eventually come across the feed at Mik's Minis in one fashion or another.

"So what's the prize Mik?" It's a Deathwatch Space Marine, painted up with whatever chapter livery you want and whichever of the three specialties you choose; Librarian, Devastator, or Assault marine.

The fine print is all over at the Minions blog. In truth, not a lot of people have entered so it could come down to a coin toss in the end for you!

Check it out before it's too late!

Deathwatch Techmarine WIP

Necessity being the mother of invention I had to whip up a servo-arm for my old-school techmarine. Also, my own Barter Bucket failed me and the part I thought would've been here by now never made it. As I type this up our Deathwatch game is tomorrow night, and this is the last trooper of the bunch I need to crank out.


After reading a post of Mike's a while back at Constantly Risking Obscurity, I saw there were a couple of kit-bashed servo-armed figs. I had asked and it seemed like old Mage Knight bits were used in part to make the packs.


I have a shoebox full of Mage Knight figs, but only a few of the figures that make up the 'steam punk' faction. I did have an robot-mecha thing with some cool arms that might work, but first I had to hack away the giant buzz saw blade.


As you can see I also clipped and used a LEGO piece for the pincer hand itself. In the end I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, the arm looks nimble and robust at the same time, and I absolutely love the way the ball-joint seems to mesh so naturally into the back pack. Speaking of the backpack, it was just a plain pack and I added an extra "techmarine-esque" doo-hickey on the back of it. Next up is to paint him, in one night apparently. He's technically from the Black Templars chapter, but there's really no place convenient I can show that. All right, it's time to get cracking, err, in about ten hours.

Deathwatch Marines: Specialists

Today we have two more Deathwatch characters. This time around is an Ultramarines Librarian and a Dark Angels Devastator marine. The latter is armed with an ambiguous "heavy weapon" and the former has a psychically enhanced force weapon (sword).


I used a Black Templars backpack for the librarian because it had a thick tome chained to it, I figured it fir his theme. The Dark Angel was a whole bunch of trimming and ad-hoc'ing with various bits and pieces. Hey, I used "ad hoc" as a verb!


I have no idea where I got the Ultramarine's bolter from, but I love it. It's got an extra large casing, and a scope with 'doohickey' wires. I used an Ultramarine decal on the librarian and an embossed icon for the Dark Angel. Funny thing though, the librarian was supposed to be a Blood Angle marine! Oh well...


Regular and Dark Angel-specific Deathwatch ceremonial pads


The librarian was killing me. I wanted to give him glowing eyes to represent "raw psyker power" and I wanted his honkin' big force sword to glow in a similar manner to match. I used a mix of wet-blending and dry-brushing on the sword and I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, it does look a bit better in person. The eyes, I dunno, I'm not happy with them but I kept redoing them so much I got kind of over it. Did I mention I did the wrong chapter?


Hmm, I am torn on this one. I went with a new style and I wanted to basically make him look un-40k, and un-space marine. I think I accomplished that, however now that he's "un" those things, I don't know if I like it or not. The player this figure is for isn't a tabletop gamer, nor is he all that knowledgeable in the 40k universe, so it doesn't matter, it's a "cool figure with a big gun" in the end.

Deathwatch Marines: Sons of Minos

For our recent Deathwatch roleplaying game I whipped up player characters for five of the six people at the table, myself included of course. We had a great mix of chapters and specialist roles, so it made painting them up fun. In this post I've got my Sons of Minos tactical marine and Biscuit's Sons of Minos apothecary.


The Sons of Minos, in similar fashion to the Dark Angels and other chapters, prefer to wear monastic-type robes. The rest of their armor and equipment are repainted in typical Deathwatch black. This includes most of the apothecary's equipment including his helmet. You can see here the tactical marine has an older MkV backpack.


Deathwatch ceremonial shoulder pads


I know I've said this before, but John over at Santa Cruz Warhammer really came through on the shoulder pads. Painted up these look great and really capture the feel I was looking for when I came up with the idea for the chapter.


The older MkV armor here has been stained beyond cleansing from past actions. This was a result on the archaic armors charts found in Rites of Battle. You can also see here where the eyes of all Sons of Minos marines glow a dark red.


Biscuit's apothecary got a bit more paint tweaking after I took these pics. It's amazing all the little screw-ups you don't notice until after the photo's been taken. This was a fun model to paint and I wanted to change it up and keep him predominantly black instead of adding in a lot of white parts. I also like the model because of the big ole, scoped bolter hanging on his hip, which just looks cool. For both of these models I used Dark Angels robed bodies mixed in with parts from the command squad boxed set.

Phase Two of Deathwatch Tonight

As you can see, I spent a grueling afternoon preparing for the second phase of my roleplaying group's Deathwatch campaign. Phase one of Deathwatch consisted of us carousing around as everyone's favorite power armored super-giants using the FATE system of rules. It was a great fit, and we played four sessions and wrapped up with a very episodic, season finale style cliffhanger.

Well the sun has set on those heroes, that storyline, the GM, and those rules.

We made characters a while back, which is why I had posted all of that background information on my Sons of Minos chapter. This evening we launch the first game of phase two. We'll be using the core rules by Fantasy Flight, Andy is stepping into the player's circle while T-Bone is going to take over GM duties.

I'm pretty excited about the launch of a new roleplaying campaign. We get in lots of other kinds of games; board, tabletop, minis, etc. but launching an RPG campaign is a big deal and only happens a couple of times per year, tops. Sure, we've busted out a handful of one-shot Fiasco games, which is a very fun game, but this is different.

Dirtside in seven hours!

Deathwatch Marines Reporting In

I still have a good number of built-but-unpainted Deathwatch troopers, you can see them here. I'll be getting to them in addition to what you see here, but these are moving to the front of the line. These five represent five of the six player characters we've whipped up for our upcoming campaign that should debut in June. The sixth character is an assault marine of the Carcharodons chapter that Andy is whipping up.


This is my personal character, a Sons of Minos tactical marine. I'm building him up to be a leader-type tactician, so I went with the "hey, go that way" pointing arm. I also equipped him with a storm bolter. He won't start out of the box with one, but they look too cool not to stick it on there. Being that these are for an RPG, we can be a little lax with the gear. Speaking of gear, he wears MkV Heresy armor, as evident from his chest piece and helmet. Rounding him out is a very old backpack and a Ad.Mech. shoulder pad. I know it's not technically a Deathwatch pad, but it looks very cool and can easily pass for one. An embossed Sons of Minos shoulder pad will adorn his right shoulder when it arrives.


Our devastator marine is being played by a long-time roleplaying friend but zero time tabletop gaming buddy. He couldn't tell the difference between a heavy bolter and a meltagun, and he could care less probably to boot. He wanted a BFG, so that's what I set out to do here. It's ambiguous enough it can pull double duty in multiple roles, and it looks pretty snazzy as well. I took an assault cannon, added a box mag and a scope. I also modified a standard backpack to look like a heavy gunner's pack, complete with an articulated targeting range finder thingie. He's a Dark Angel, so DA bits finish out his kit.


Here's our Ultramarine librarian armed with Deathwatch bolter and force sword. I don't know where the bolter comes from, but it looks pretty robust. The fist gripping it is a tad large for scale, but hopefully painted it won't be too noticeable. A Black Templar backapack ('cause it has a book chained to it) and a hanging scroll, along with the helmet round him out.


Our apothecary is also from the Sons of Minos (he's looking for a Gene-seed cure) and was fun to put together. Like my character up top (and the Dark Angel) he is wearing robes, these will be dark brown compared to the DA's white ones. Slung on his side is his DW-pattern bolter and small pouches are on the other side. His medical-grade chainsword, medic backpack, and super gauntlet of healing +3 round his kit out. Oh, he's also awaiting his embossed chapter shoulder pad for the right arm. Thanks again John!

This techmarine almost didn't make the cut. It was a roll on the armor histories chart that cinched the deal however. One of the results is something along the lines that an epic battle long past ended up with the armor being impaled by an alien beastie's natural weapons. Well, the claws (or whatever) broke off in the armor and are still there today. So here you have it, sculpted over twenty years ago this techmarine fits the description to a 't'. This Ultramarine is still waiting on his servo-arm backpack.



I love the building phase of troopers. You can see my bits box in the background, it's not the biggest, but it does have a nice selection of stuff to choose from. I just tinker around, dry-fitting some items and digging around for specific ideas. The targetter on the devastator was a happy accident that just fell together as I was trying to do something else. So once I have all the bits I need for each model I scoop them up and put them in their own bags until it's time to build them. Well, they're built so I guess it's time to paint them!

The Sons of Minos in Deathwatch

[The following information is to be used in conjunction with playing a Space Marine character in the Deathwatch role-playing game that hails from the Sons of Minos chapter.]

Chapter Characteristic Modifiers: The Sons of Minos Gene-seed favors strength and cunning. Space Marines of this chapter gain +5 Perception and +5 Strength.

Oversensitive Occulobe. The Space Marine can see in total darkness as if it were only lowlight conditions and can see in lowlight conditions as if it were full light. However, if he removes his helmet in full light conditions he will suffer a -10 to all Awareness tests. Each Sons of Minos has unnerving, glowing red eyes due to this defect.

Specialty Restrictions: Due to the chapter’s divergent codex adherence, characters are unable to fill the specialty role of Devastator Marine within the ranks of the Deathwatch.

Solo Mode Ability: Adaptable Reaction. The Sons of Minos are masters of flexibility in planning and their ability to completely change their tactics in the middle of a course of action is unparalleled. While in Solo-mode, the Battle-Brother is considered to have the Lightning Reflexes Talent. At Rank 3, the Battle-Brother receives a +10 to all Dodge checks. At Rank 5, the Battle-Brother is considered to have the Rapid Reaction Talent. At Rank 7, once per game session, the Battle-Brother may automatically pass one Agility-based test (for opposed tests the Battle-Brother is assumed to have rolled 01).

Squad Mode Attack Pattern: Tactical Finesse. Action: Full Action, Cost: 3, Sustained: Yes. While this ability is in effect, the Battle-Brother and those within Support Range of him may make one melee or ranged attack as a Half Action (the ranged attack may only be made using the single shot rate of fire) and may then make a Half Move. A character benefiting from this ability may disengage from an opponent in melee without penalty.

Squad Mode Defense Pattern: Swift Advance. Action: Reaction, Cost: 2, Sustained: Yes. Members of the Sons of Minos have the skill and training necessary to move quickly through even the most punishing onslaughts of gunfire. While this ability is active, the Battle-Brother and any within Support Range who successfully dodge a Ranged Attack may spend their Reaction to make a Full Move. At Rank 4, they may also reload one weapon provided it does not take more than a Half or Full action to do so.

Chapter cult. A Battle-Brother serving in the Deathwatch has to conceal the worst excesses of his chapter’s cult even from his most trusted and closest members of his Kill-Team.

Chapter Past: Your character was already an experienced Space Marine before they signed on with the Deathwatch. To represent this, simply roll on the following past events table to see what role it was you played above and beyond the regular call of duty within your chapter service history. These can provide solid role-playing hooks to possibly be used in game when the situation arises.

Sons of Minos Pasts
1d5 result	Past Experiences
1	Cleansing of Hive Ruin Artemis Spire. Wasteland mutants infested a ruined hive city turning a large portion of it into a dark labyrinth dedicated to the ruinous chaos powers. You were part of a company detachment sent in to eliminate the threat before it grew any worse. The action took many hard fought months in tight quarters earning you and your fellow survivors experience in both dense urban terrain and combating mutant cultists.
2	Assisted Rogue Trader Fleet Pelion. While returning from campaign in the Ghoul Star Region, you and your company answered a request for aid alongside a Rogue Trader fleet against Dark Eldar Pirates. Your arrival helped turn the tide of the space battle earning you experience against the Dark Eldar and the favor of a noble Rogue Trader.
3	Tenth Company Veteran. Unlike other chapters, the tenth scout company of the Sons of Minos is comprised of veteran volunteers. You are one such veteran, having served with distinction as a Scout on many vital missions using everything from sniper rifle to shotgun to the scout bike.
4	Thunderhawk Gunner. You have seen more than a fair share of action as the door gunner on a mighty Thunderhawk transport. Countless times your flying squadrons have been the tip of the spear in large-scale combat maneuvers.
5	Mist-Watcher. You have stood guard against daemonic intrusion while chapter librarians conducted dangerous scrying rituals into the Warp to locate signs of lost chapter hero and primarch Cthonius. You have born witness to the horrors of the Warp firsthand as well as seen tantalizing clues that could be interpreted as a hint to Cthonius’ eventual return.

Chapter Trappings: The Sons of Minos maintain a fairly standard demeanor in their outward appearance when joining the Deathwatch, however there are some notable differences.

Robes. Hooded robes are a common sight amongst the chapter and it is not uncommon for Battle-Brothers within the ranks of the Deathwatch to carry these items over with them. The subtle differences each different type of robe may incur on its wearer is lost on those not hailing from the chapter itself. Regardless of the type of robe worn, all hoods will negate the Space Marine’s hypersensitivity to full light conditions as a result of their defective Occulobe.

• Robes of the Wise: Choose one Scholastic Lore and add +3 to all Tests on it.
• Robes of the Abyss: Choose one Forbidden Lore and add +3 to all Tests on it.
• Robes of the Seeing Eye: Add +3 to all Awareness Tests.
• Hood of Dusk: Cancel negative effects of Oversensitive Occulobe.

Trophy Pelt. The surviving fauna of Draconis Prime has evolved to become deadly predators and hunters in their own right. Unarmed hunting practices amongst the Battle-Brothers of the chapter exist to this day and successful hunts are a source of pride and respect for those who succeed. Pelts and other grisly trophies are often worn thereafter by the Battle-Brother in question. Add +2 to Intimidate Tests.

Chapter Relics: There are many such chapter relics unique to the Sons of Minos and held in reverence by those within the chapter. Most of these relics take their places of honor within the mighty Fortress-Monasteries of the chapter, many others however still find their way into the capable hands of a Battle-Brother on the field of battle.

The first of these relics is the Scythe of Yidhra, a uniquely charged power weapon in the form of a large, sweeping scythe. A faint, ghostly whine emanates from its core and those death throes of the souls it takes in battle seem to linger long after their physical forms cease to function. The blade itself glows with an almost translucent sheen and it seems almost to pass through an opponent’s armor to rend the flesh unimpeded beneath.

A second such relic is a venerable sniper rifle known simply as Nightfall. The annals of those who have born Nightfall are long indeed and every name on the list are those Battle-Brothers who have been marked by greatness at one point or another in their chapter career. Most recently Scout Sergeant Tanais, while on campaign in the Vorvadoss Reach, utilized Nightfall with unerring effect against the Ork hordes.

Sons of Minos Chapter Advances:

Advance	Cost	Type	Prerequisites
Awareness	200	Skill
Awareness +10	200	Skill	Awareness
Awareness +20	200	Skill	Awareness +10
Concealment	300	Skill
Concealment +10	300	Skill	Concealment
Concealment +20	300	Skill	Concealment +10
Bolter Drill	1000	Talent	Adeptus Astartes, Weapon Training
Hatred (Eldar)	400	Talent
Exotic Weapon Training (any)	400	Talent
Hip Shooting	400	Talent	BS 40, AG 40

Battle Cry: “Until Cthonius returns!”