Dead Man Walking - Night Lords Dreadnought / Hellbrute

A quick one, today. This guy is basically stock, minus a couple horns I cut off to give a lower profile. What was by far most interesting to me on this project was trying to reconcile the organic/biomechanical sensibility (which I feel tends to approach overly cartoony designs) with my Night Lords (which are generally quite subdued, to counter the overwrought aesthetic of bats 'n' lightning.  I tried to go with a sick, vaguely Akira-esque blending of flesh into machinery: I thought that simply making the organic forms metallic (so closer to organic metal) wouldn't read, while a clearer delineation between flesh and metal when I was laying down colors honestly made him look weirdly naked.

I'm not going to do a ton in this style, but I'm pretty happy with how he looks, since it gives me options on how to do others when I want to.

Now the Darkness Got a Hold on Me - Huron Blackheart conversion

While the Astral Claws are easily my favorite chapter, and Huron is also one of my favorite characters, I think the stock model for Huron Blackheart is just... dumpy.

So, of course, I needed to do something about that.

Traditionalist Radicals - Blackstone Fortress Black Legion

I've painted lots of red & gold & black, and I'm personally a fan of jade, so I decided to do my own take on Black Legion, that heralds back to their Sons of Horus days, which I just find so much more stylish.

Opening Salvo - Astral Claws Lieutenant and Tactical Squads; battle report

So, I have something to admit: I've actually only been on the sidelines for 8th edition, rebuilding my 40k collection for a while since I'd purged it maybe 15 years back. That means this is my first 40k fight to return to in a long time (I think I played two heavily proxied games in 7th when we were starting to test the GW waters).

Terror tactics - Night Lords Raptors

Continuing in my favorite mode for my Night Lords collection, these Raptors are a kitbash of a whole bunch of eras.

Cult of Personality - Carnac Commodus Conversion, and 8th Edition Astral Claws Thoughts

Okay, Commodus has been burdened with both some pretty awful mechanics and being named after an historical figure whose name looks like "toilet."

Back With a Vengeance - Night Lords Revisions and Additions

So, there comes a time in basically every project that's allowed to sit around me long enough, that I decide I need to fix something.

Join the Mob, Join the Mob! It's All Over. - Dark Vengeance Chaos Cultists

 I've been pretty thoroughly impressed by Games Workshop's snap fit minis for the last few years, and their Cultists are no exception.

A Real Firebrand - Black Legion Demon Prince conversion

This big dude definitely ranks right up there with my favorite 40k projects.

The Hero of Warpspace - Zelda-themed Cypher conversion

Being a big Ocarina of Time fan, when I got this commission, I knew it was going to be something fun and weird.

Meat Sack - Night Lords Oblitarators

So... yeah. Obliterators took a bit of work to get them both to a point I liked and one I thought at least kinda' fit Night Lords.

How I Roll - Night Lords Rhino + another mini-report

Big spiky evil tanks and subtle don't go together very easily, but I tried.

Can Opener. - Night Lords terminator lord

Tried to go subtle with this guy.

Raids on the Edge of the Maelstrom - Night Lords, and mini battle report: Astral Claws vs. Night Lords

A couple beginnings- the first Night Lords, and the first battle report moving in to 7th edition 40k.

Back from the Dead - One More Thousand Son

So, a short one, today. I ended up trading with the guy I'd painted a Thousand Sons army for some time back, and found out that he'd sold it off due to medical expenses

Having also been through both medical and financial bad times myself (and since he was a nice guy), I felt for him, and painted one more sorcerer from my chaos collection to send back his way. Now that he's got the mini (I didn't want him to stumble across the post and ruin the surprise!), up he goes, here :)

The Dark-Horse Challenger - Astral Claws Corien Sumatris (plus tactics)

While not my most extensive GW conversion, I think Captain Sumatris might be my favorite.

Heavy Metal... Poisoning - Death Guard Obliterators

I've never really liked Obliterators as iron warriors (I feel like the ancient scrap collector ones looked more appropriate, though I also had fun converting these more supernatural ones), but with a mark of Nurgle, the stock models feel just right, I think.

Cloak & Dagger - Alpha Legion Champion

I really felt like this guy looked like a lone operative, which said either Night Lords or Alpha Legion to me. Until now, Alpha Legion was my favorite of the original legions I never painted; now I'd like to add a contingent of them to my very slowly growing hodgepodge of CSM stuff, or at least do a few for FFG's Black Crusade. I mostly focused on getting a cool blue to green transition on this guy, quite happy with the results.

The Grand Trimodon - Chaos Heldrake

Uh, yeah. So, painfully difficult to complete, but I think the Heldrake came out pretty epically. (And the title is what it eventually became known as, over the course of a few painting sessions.)

"All is Rust..." Plague Marine color test

Death Guard were my favorite army through two editions of 40k, before I eventually sold them off when I jumped the GW ship ages back.