Vindicare Assassin

I like Vindicare Assassins. I like sniping characters from the safety of a tall building and causing havoc with an exitus rifle!

I already have a couple of Vindicare assassins, but I really wanted to add the classic metal model. So I hunted one down on the second hand market and finally found one, and here it is! 

I painted them in a very similar way to the way I did the new plastic Vindicare, with the little red straps and the grey face mask.  The base is an area that I really like. I used some thick cork and added some detail with the "Armageddon Dunes" technical paint. The base looks pretty realistic and gritty, and works well with the miniature. Each time I finish a miniature like this, I tend to start thinking about painting more individual models such as inquisitors and bounty hunters!

 

Here are all my Vindicare Assassins, posing like they're on the cover of Vogue!

Taking command

Today's post is a chunky post! I decided to put a few models together, since they are part of the same squad. Each one is a character upon whom I lavished quite a lot of attention, and so they are worth showing off indvidually, but I've done a lot of painting recently, and these go together, so why not make a big post showing them all off?

 First up is the Company Standard Bearer. Marfa Prince is proudly waving the company standard, showing the Vrayaxian colours and the emblem, which shows a flying fish, symbolising the Vrayaxian people, soaring above a broken hammer, that symbolises the Imperium. The miniature comes from Victoria Miniatures.

I took this photo just before deciding to repaint the base rims black. Something wasn't quite right, and after repainting the rims on a couple of test miniatures, it was clear that the rim colour was that something. The whole army now has black rims.

 

Next up is tough Veteran, Tessa. Tessa wears a respirator mask to protect them from toxic environments, and often leads the way through unknown environments, where they can smash foes with their huge hammer and annihilate them with their bolt pistol.The miniature is from Forge World.

Next is Ulanya Tremayne. She is an Astropath who can unsettle enemies with telepathic murmurs, or project orders to the minds of friendly units. She carries an autopistol, just in case the ememy get too close.The miniature is from Artel_W.

Finally, we have Kuklina Morton, another Company Veteran. They carry an autogun that they fire with the help of their bionic left hand. Their original hand was lost in the battle of Stergan, where it was cut off by a Catachan knife.I think the miniature came from Bad Squiddo Games.

Those are the new characters, so let's see them all together! I have made some progress on the Lyubay (capital of Vrayax) gaming board, with some potted trees and one island completed. I have just applied black wash to the remaining islands and will drybrush them soon. I will then start working on some buildings (one has already been primed). 

The first island makes an excellent place to show the Command Squad in all their diverse glory!

Vrayaxian art

Today I am showing something a little different. I am pleased to be able to show you this wonderful sketch of one my characters, Olenya Heldane. The sketch is by Harry Boddice, who can be found on Instagram or Artstation, at the username, @pencil_sword_paints. I showed him a 3D render of my miniature for Olenya Heldane, commander of my Wings of Vrayax army. 

I sent Harry an image of Olenya and another of the Wings of Vrayax emblem, and he came back to me with this fabulous sketch. It's so good! I like how he worked the emblem into the background, and how we're staring down the barrel of the bolt pistol wielded by this fierce and bitter former commissar. 

I always envisaged her as being quite practical in her clothing. It's relatively unadorned, since she shuns pomp and ceremony, and Harry has captured this well. Her coat looks worn but comfortable, and her hair hangs down loosely, as if she doesn't fuss over it often. Her only items of embellishment are her weapons: her power sword and bolt pistol. Whilst the sword is a reminder of the Imperium she has left behind, she still carries it as a symbol of the struggle she and every other citizen of Vrayax has been through. 

It's a great sketch and I am really pleased with it! Thanks Harry! Contact him for commissions on Instagram or Artstation.

(click/tap for a larger image)

This is the 3D render on which the sketch is based:

And this is my painted miniature. Harry didn't know how I'd painted her, but he serendipitously painted her in almost the exact same colours! He said he just felt like painting with those colours... spooky!

This is the emblem of Vrayax:

 

Shiny and not chrome, but gold

Oh yes, don't these look good? Custodes are some of the coolest models in the 40k range. I have now added these to my force (I also have a Knight, Dreadnought and Shield Captain: see below) and am really pleased with how they came out. Drybrushing the armour gives it a lovely look, and I did some funky lightning effects on the swords.These are going to look great fighting alongside my Minotaurs (notice they have the same bases).

 This is what I have for Custodes so far:

Leading the T'au to battle

This week are two HQ choices for the T'au. First is an Ethereal, which is the only model that I bought myself. I really like the pose, since it's a little different from anything I already have. It's certainly a lot less 'about to hack your head off' than most of the Space Marine characters I have in my collection. Jol'rak, as I have called him, looks superb in the drybrush scheme, with the addition of some blue jewels and white robes.

 

 

This commander, whom I have called Resh'fel, has also been completed. She'd already been painted, so smoothed down some of the bumpy bits and trimmed off the flash that had been left on, and then painted over the top. She looks pretty cool, although I definitely think a brand new model would be better.

 

PS. I get a lot of my character names from https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/. Check it out: it's a great site, created by an individual with a passion for fantasy/sci-fi and linguistics.