B&C February Hobby Challenge

I signed up for the Bolter and Chainsword February Hobby Challenge, pledging the following:

I failed miserably on the Solar Auxilia front - I tried a couple of schemes, settling on this:

...but I wasn't too happy with how he looked. As such, his nine buddies are still standing around clad in nothing but primer...

However, I got my HQs finished (for now), and a Contemptor to boot:

Hopefully March will be a bit more productive!

Painted Contemptor & Praetor

Both still WIP, but here you go - one Contemptor, nearly finished:

And my Praetor, on his way:

Need to decide how to do his power sword!

Undercoat & Weekender

Finally got some time away from XCOM 2 to undercoat some more Marines and my Solar Auxilia, the latter of which I still need to decide on a scheme for. Work (and XCOM) permitting these will progress over the week, for a large game in just under two weeks!

The Weekender is to blame for spurring me back into painting - I've been refreshing the Battle Bunnies blog all weekend!

I think my favourite so far has been the new Knight, a magna-lascannon wielding iron turtle:

(Image from the Battle Bunnies blog)

However there was a lot that caught my attention - it'll be hard to squeeze in some Skitarii allies somewhere, but I'm sure I can manage...!

The new Ultramarines Rite of War is an odd one - you have to take an allied Militia detachment, and your Recon troops lose the 'support squad' rule. It's not one I'll use, but it's an interesting theme. The generic ones are excellent, and really something I think 30k needed - they all have far less restrictions than previous RoWs.

I think my favourite new Rite is the Death Guard's - they get a cover save in the open, can make random forests into dangerous terrain and gain S5 frag grenades and missiles. It's really thematic, bringing to mind the slow advance of their infantry through the fog and toxins. I very, very nearly did Death Guard (I have some Grave Wardens, they are fantastic miniatures); it's a good thing that it's too late to go back now - plus, MkII and III are pricy!

All in all, I like Retribution, and I'm really looking forward to Inferno. The Thousand Sons and Space Wolves look great, and I really want to see Russ and Magnus face off against each other. Plus, apparently the Cult of the Pyrae might get some sorcery-powered machinery, which would be amazing!

I'll be back with some painting updates soon.