1,500pts of Khorne CSM Completed

Another Saturday, another army finished off - this time my Khorne CSM army that I began back in September. It started off as just 1k, but then grew via 1.2k to bang on 1.5k, with the recent addition of Kharn the Betrayer:

HQ

Daemon Prince (wings & warptime)

Kharn the Betrayer

Troops

10x CSM (2x meltaguns; Aspiring Champion with powerfist)

Rhino (T/L Bolter)

10x CSM (2x meltaguns; Aspiring Champion with powerfist)

Rhino (T/L Bolter)

9x Khorne Berzerkers (inc. Champion with powerfist)

Rhino (T/L Bolter)

Heavy Support

Predator (T/L Lascannons & T/L Bolter)

2x Obliterators

2x Obliterators (back after internship with Nurgle)

I'm really happy with how the army has turned out, although the Daemon Prince was a REAL pain to assemble. My only real concern was how the Kharn turned out. I don't know if its my old issue of not liking minis painted too red, or because i experimented by putting a layer of varnish between the undercoat and the rest of the paint, but it just doesn't seem to look right to my eyes:

The plan next is to finish of my Guard army, taking it to 1.5k as well.

Gearing up for more Combat Patrol: 500pts Chaos Space Marines

I'm gearing up for (hopefully) another round of Combat Patrol this week, this time fielding 500pts of my Khorne CSM army:

Squad 1 (150pts)

7x CSMs with Meltagun & Rhino

Squad 2 (200pts)

8x CSM with Flamer, Aspiring Champion & Rhino)

Squad 3 (150pts)

7x CSMs with Meltagun & Rhino

LOTS of Pics - 9,000pt Game, Nurgle etc etc

A BIG photo update for the weekend.

First some shots of the 9,000pt game i played with Rob and Ian earlier in the week at the Wargamestore:

The Salamanders arrive via drop pod

The state of play at the half-way point. Lots of speedbumps for tanks, but still everything to play for (check out the old skool landraiders, rhinos and predators)

The endgame - a draw

and now for some Nurgle:

Firstly, here is the big cheese himself, Typhus. I've been reading The Flight of the Eisenstein this week, so I felt suitable inspired to paint him up last night and this morning. I'm really happy with him - especially loving the purple & yellow pus dripping all over him.

More details on the purple and yellow pus. The top of the termi armour looks really great: nice and festering. Speaking of festering, here are my plaguebearers:

I just have 6 more to paint to make 21 in total.

Again, I'm really loving the dried blood on the weapons and on their bodies.

More coming soon...

Second Nurgle Rhino

You *know* when you've been Nurgled!

I went to town a bit on this one lol :-)

New Project: 1k Nurgle CSMs

A return after a short break, with an idea for a new project/army: 1k nurgle CSM:

HQ

Daemon Prince (Mark of Nurgle, wings, warptime) 175

Greater Demon 100

Troops

7 Plague Marines (Champion, power weapon, 2x flamer) 163

Rhino (Havoc Launcher) 50

7 Plague Marines (Champion, power weapon, 2x flamer) 163

Rhino (Havoc Launcher) 50

HS

4 Obliterators (2 squads of 2) 300

1001 pts in total.

Pictures of the project so far:

The Rhino:

First plague marine squad:

CSM 1000pt Project Update: Complete!!!

After a weekend burst of creativity, I managed to finish off my 1k of CSMs last night. In total there are 1049 pts (counting the Terminator Lord as a Daemon Prince with wings). I might get the DP down the line, but at the moment i can't be bothered (plus I'm always saying that I don't want to paint another metal mini):

HQ

Daemon Prince (Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission) 155

Troops

10X CSMs (Aspiring Champion w Powerfist, 2 meltas) 210

Rhino (T/L Bolter) 40

10X CSMs (Aspiring Champion w Powerfist, 2 meltas) 210

Rhino (T/L Bolter) 40

9x Berzerkers (Skull Champion w Powerfist) 229

Rhino (T/L Bolter) 40

Heavy Support

Predator (Sponson Las cannons) 130

The plan next is to take them up to 1.2k and then 1.5k by Xmas. A friend has given me a Defiler which would take my army up to 1.2k easily (running it with 2 close combat weapons). After that I will either go for another 10 CSMs (if for no other reason than I love painting them), another Defiler or maybe even another Daemon Prince. I'm edging towards another defiler though at the moment. I've also bought some Bloodletters on ebay last night for a tenner that I might use either for this army or a daemon army down the line somewhere.

CSM 1000pt Project Update: All Vehicles Now Painted

The three rhinos and predator of my 1k list are now complete. All things being equal, I will paint the last 10 CSMs and then I will have my 1k force ready for their first game (and hopefully expansion up to 1.2k)

CSM Project Update: On the Final Stretch

I now have only 330pts of the CSM project left to paint (The predator that I bought on ebay arrived today almost TWO WEEKS after I paid for it). The plan is to repaint the first rhino this weekend, do the predator the week after and then finish off with the last 10 CSMs.

In terms of costings, the whole 1k project cost me £97.44, not including the bases from Dark Art Miniatures. If I factor in the 30 urban bases, it would probably come in at around £105 or so.

CSM 1000pt Project Update: 664pts painted - Khorne Berzerkers

Spent the weekend painting 9 Khorne Berzerkers, taking my total for the project to 664pts. I debated for a while about whether to paint them in standard red armour or paint them to match the CSMs. In the end I decided on red out of tradition and because it matched up well with the CSMs colour-scheme anyway.

I just have 10 CSMs and the predator to paint up and then I have my full 1,000pt army ready to go. All things being equal, I think this week I will redo the first rhino to match the rest, next week I'll do the last 10 CSMs and then do the predator last (assuming it has arrived by then).

On a related note, paypal have agreed with me that the CSMs that I bought a few weeks back on ebay were duff and that the guy who sold them to me has to refund me and pay for return postage (as I requested right at the start). Looks like someone will be getting negative feedback...

CSM 1000pt Project Update: 395pts painted

After a series of stop-starts, work on the heart of the CSM project has been continuing apace for the last week or so after the battleforce arrived. I now have 395pts of the 1k painted up, leaving 600 or so points left (or 10 more CSMs, 9 Khorne Berzerkers, a rhino and a predator left to do).

I'm in the midst of painting the rhino at the moment, and will paint a step-by-step blog on painting it in uber-rust. I think I might also redo the rhino on the right to match the army colour scheme better.

I really like the colour scheme of the tactical squad, and I thought that i would experiment a bit with them and mix up standard CSM bits with some possessed limbs and torsos. Each one has a bolter in their right hands, but their left hands might be a demonic claw or whatever.

Finally, I'm not sure whether CSMs are meant to be cute or not, but if they are, i think this one is - although I wouldn't fancy meeting him down a dark alley lol

The CSM Project begins in earnest

Yay! the CSM battleforce box has finally arrived! I'm not proud to admit that i did shake the box several times before opening it and savoured the weight of the plastic therein. I decanted the lid of the box like it was holding a fine win (i know im stretching the similes here) and just pored over each sprue in turn.

Yikes

I've already painted up 5 of my CSM rust marines and they look really great. The scheme is black undercoat followed by drybrushes of boltgun metal and tinbitz, then devlan mud and sepia washes doused on them (the mini is basically drowned in it). Finally, once they are dry, a final splodge of sepia wash finishes the job off. Will upload pix when its brighter.

My plan is to paint 5 more to make a squad up and then do the second squad, the rhino, Khorne Berzerkers and then the predator in that order. I'm also planning to do a bit of low-level customisation on each one by mixing the possessed and standard CSM sprue parts together so, for example, I can have each marine with a bolter and then some sort of demon bit on his other arm, add a demon head rather than a CSM head etc etc. Each demon bit will be done in a red Khorne colour-scheme. I'd love to do nurgle, but wouldnt know where to begin and i have 4 shades of red paint lol.

The Rust Rhino is complete

Thought that i might do something a bit different with the second rhino. I've done battle-damage before on other vehicles, but i really got carried away with this one. The idea is that the rhino has been hit with something hot and fiery (possibly also a bit demonic) and/or has really seen some action over the last 10,000 years.

Inspired by the look, I think I might do my CSMs as heavily rusted as well.

Finally, a closeup showing bullet holes:

CSM Project Update: First Rhino Completed & Update on the Challenge

The CSM project has gotten off to some false starts, and aside from the Terminator Lord, I have yet to really begin painting proper (Maelstrom promise that I will have the Battleforce in 2 days). Having said that, I have been working on my first CSM Rhino (of the 3 that will eventually be in the 1k army list) and have it ready. I swapped it for some LoTR minis from a friend and it was already in great shape, but I wanted to add some rust and battle damage and generally redo the black paint.

The initial challenge has broken down essentially because I have realised how hard it is to buy decent second-hand minis on ebay. Most of those listed have either been resprayed so many times that they are just like hunks of black tar or are generally knackered. So, I'm trying now to bring a 1k army in at under 100 quid, buying from resellers to try and keep the budget down. The army list is:

HQ

Chaos Lord (Mark of Khorne, Power Weapon) 115

Troops

10X CSMs (Aspiring Champion w Powerfist, 2 meltas) 200

Rhino (T/L Bolter) 40

9x Berzerkers (Skull Champion w Powerfist) 229

Rhino (T/L Bolter) 40

10X CSMs (Aspiring Champion w Powerfist, 2 meltas) 200

Rhino (T/L Bolter) 40

Heavy Support

Predator (Sponson Las cannons) 130

(994 points in total)

(115 points painted)

On a related note, I've completed the revisions to my Damnatus article and just sent it back to TCS's editors. continue.

The CSM Project? Is it cursed by the Lords of Chaos??!!

20 CSMs arrived today that I bought off ebay. Most are unpainted, but they have been stuck together horribly, have guns missing, stuck upside down etc. etc. I'll try and return them for a refund or put them back on the bay, and hopefully some 10-year-old fanboy will take them off my hands.

On a brighter note, I swapped some LoTR minis for a chaos rhino from a friend, and the Chaos Lord is now complete aside from the base (not sure yet what type of basing to use)

Hopefully the CSM Boxset from Maelstrom wont be much longer...

CSM Project Update (AKA The Rules Go Out Of The Window)

Frustrated that after over a week of the CSM project I still haven't painted a single mini, I gave in today and went to buy the Chaos Lord from down at Hobbycraft.

I've been working on it a few hours and it's about 1/3 done. I'm particularly impressed with the cape (and also how devlan mud on black acts as a type of glaze). Hopefully, I can finish it tomorrow.

(ps yeah, I know I'm odd, but I always paint minis before assembling and basing them)

a bad start to the CSM project :-/

The second-hand Khorne Berzerkers that i bought from ebay from 13 quid have arrived and are dire. I bought them are resprayed ones, but it looks like they have been sprayed with tar. Also, the legs and bodies in some cases are standard marines with Khorne heads attached (like they have just swapped sides lol).

Then to make it worse, i opened up the large drybrush that just came from the (usually brilliant) Maelstrom Games

Hopefully I can return them both for a refund.

Chaos Update (costings)

To buy everything new would cost £104.65 for the individual boxes:

10 CSMs £19.55

9 KBs £17.60 (for 12)

1 Lord £7.85

2 Rhinos £35.20

1 Predator £24.45

(or £74.40 for the boxset and then everything else on top)

So, the plan is still to try and get the whole thing in for under 50 quid, trying to get as much as possible second hand or from resellers.

OK - I cheated :-/

I admit it. The challenge is less than 24 hours old and I have broken the rules. Ive now spent 54 quid in total, 41 of which I have just spent on the Chaos Space Marine battleforce from Maelstrom Games:

The plan is to keep 10 CSMs and the rhino and then flog the rest back on the bay of e, using the money (hopefully) earned to buy a second rhino and a second-hand predator AND hopefully come in under the 50 quid budget!!!

The updated list is now:

HQ:

Chaos Lord Mark of Khorne, Power weapon (115)

Troops:

10X CSMs Aspiring Champion w Powerfist, 2 meltas (200)

Rhino Transport (35)

9x Berzerkers Skull Champion w Powerfist (229)

Rhino Transport (35)

Heavy Support:

Predator with Assault Cannon & Sponson Las cannons (130)

744 pts in total

An initial 750 Pt Chaos Space Marine List

OK, Day 1 of my CSM 750pt challenge. I've spent 13 quid and begun to work out my list:

HQ

Chaos Lord (Mark of Khorne, Powerfist) 130

Troops

10X CSMs (Aspiring Champion w Powerfist, Icon of Khorne, 2 meltas) 240

Rhino (Daemonic Possession) 55

9x Berzerkers (Skull Champion w Powerfist) 229

Rhino (Daemonic Possession) 55

Which leaves me with 41 pts to play with to get to 750. I'm thinking of dropping the daemonic possession, but that would only free up 40 pts and I can't buy much heavy support for 80 pts (i.e. a basic Predator)