Fun and Fluff: Part 3. The Knights of Titan Assemble

Welcome back to the Fun and Fluff series; a short blog series dedicated to my preparation for the London Wargaming Guilds Fun and Fluff Tournament in October. 

Last post I talked about the changes to my army, updated on the progress I had made and set out some painting targets I needed to achieve to have a complete force by the event. It's been a very quiet 5 weeks since that post... how have I gotten on?

The Targets

The last five weeks have been crazy busy. Not just with life, but also with hobby (thankfully!). Before I talk about my progress so far let's first review my painting targets:

August 11th-> September 15th: Voldus, 5 Purifiers, 5 Strike Squad, 5 Interceptors

September 15th -> October 15th: 2x Rhinos, Chaplain, Dreadknight

Not too overly ambitious a timeline at all really - 15 infantry in 4 weeks was doable, followed by the big and fun stuff in the next month, giving me a final week of overflow time in case the project ran over.

Fortunately I've had a great month of hobby (despite life being... chaotic!) and have absolutely smashed those targets!

Lets check in with the progress.

Progress

We'll pick up where I left off in Part 2 of this series: Voldus

Voldus was in a pretty good state at the end of last month - a new plastic GK special character was too tempting to pass up so I just has to include him.

He was a great model to paint; covered in icons and details. I'm really glad I got some GK practice on OTHER Terminators before giving him a go!!

With Voldus completed I moved on the next models on my list: the Infantry

Squad one - A 5-man Purifier squad armed with two Incinerators

Squad 2 - a 5-man Interceptor squad armed with a Nemesis Daemon Hammer and Psycannon

Squad 3 - a 5-man Strike Squad armed with a Nemesis Daemon Hammer

The Infantry are nothing to write home about. Compared to the Terminators the detail on these guys made them MUCH easier to paint, especially since I already had a paint scheme.

But that's not all I managed (as you know from the summary photo!). 

Hot off the heels of these guys I painted their Transports: 2x Rhinos.

Each squad in my force will have a characteristic shield pattern, and I've tried my best to include elements of this is my Rhinos.

Up first the Purifiers Rhino: "Purity"

Purity is a Rhino I've had in my backlog for a while, and was pretty easily recovered for painting. I also had a few of the Stormraven Grey Knight icons in my bitz box, and these made for great additions to the doors of the Rhino. I also converted the gunner with a spare head from the Strike Squad box to make him look the part.

To avoid having a "big silver box" on the table I embellished the Rhino with lots of colour. 

You'll notice the prow is white, helping to tie the model to the Purifiers (and their characteristic white helms).
The top hatch was painted with the units shield; A field per fess of Argent and Sanguine emblazoned with a Sable sword (or a white/red shield emblazoned with a black sword, for those that don't speak heraldry!). One side door was painted in the the same colours and the shield, without the sword, and the only solid white.

To finish off the model I used some spare transfers to give the model three kill markings on the right side of the prow, and freehand painted a copy of the shield on the left side of the prow (in case the top hatch wasn't obvious enough!)

I also, as you can see, added a base to the Rhino! The model isn't glued to the base, allowing me to detach it for gaming purposes if needed.

From a narrative/ hobby perspective I think having the base really adds something to the finished mini, helping tie it into the rest of my collection in a very solid way.

My second Rhino, "Banish" was painted for the Strike Squad

Banish was painted using many of the same design elements I used on Purity. The front panels were painted red this time, and in a different orientation than I used on Purity; hopefully making Banish look visually distinct from, but still related to, Purity.

Banish also features the squads shield on it's top hatch (a bend sinister of Argent and Sanguine, emblazoned with the Sable Sword).

Since I'd run out of the Grey Knight icons from the Stormraven set, this time I painted both side doors white and took the opportunity to do some freehand. The Inquisitorial 'I', daemon skulls and "Hereticus" was all freehand, and painted to show the allegiance of the Grey Knights to the Ordos Hereticus. I'll likely add some Ordos Malleus emblems/ iconogrophy to other Grey Knight elements as my army grows to show the allegiance of the strike force to both Ordos.

The finishing touches to the model were three black swords and the shield on the models front panels, again borrowing from Purity.

As with Purity, I modeled a detachable base for Banish too.

The final new recruit for my burgeoning Grey Knights strike force, (so named "The Black Swords" if you wanted to know why that motif has come up so much!) is my Warlord - The Chaplain Kyron Solor.

This model is my favourite model in my collection, if for nothing else than it's a Grey Knight with a Chaos Space Marine helmet! (haha! HERESY!)

The model has a few subtle conversions (the Crozius head, the Helm and the slightly extended/ elevated reliquary on his back) that make it visually very distinct from the rest of my Grey Knights, and hopefully make him a fitting model to lead the Black Swords.

Playing the Grey Knights

I've been lucky enough to get four games in with the Black Swords over the last 5-6 weeks, and can honestly say I've never enjoyed a new army so much. After my Adeptus Mechanicus it's brilliant to find myself playing all elements of the game (especially the Psychic Phase!!!). Whilst I have no comparison to how they were before I can relate to playing my Blood Angels, and the extra buffs the Grey Knights have received (Bolter Discipline and Shock Assault) make them a real handful in the Combat and Shooting phase - especially in a terminator heavy army! Voldus is also an unstoppable machine, having earned his place in every list I make after bringing Captain-General Trajann Valoris to his knees!

It also feels good playing an army that can take a hit, and whilst the Grey Knights are by no means the most durable army they a heck of a lot more resilient than the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase, and the rigor of tournament prep will break my enthusiasm. 

But for now I'm happy to call myself a silver-clad warrior-mage of the Emperor!

Up Next

The only model I need to finish for the Fun and Fluff is a Dreadknight, but the mini itself has proved a little lackluster in the games I've played thus far. Those games have only been against Custodes and Space Marines though, so he may find his place elsewhere. 

I also have a few more models (backlog and otherwise) that will likely find their way to completion in the coming weeks - chief among which are Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo and Castellan Garran Crowe, Champion of the Purifier Order. Both models are mighty heroes, and I'm so excited to paint them!

If you want to follow closer updates then visit my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmedge/?hl=en

Good luck with all your hobby endeavors out there!
Until next time!