Being stuck at home is the perfect excuse to revisit your collections and turn some of that unused grey plastic and resin into freshly painted miniatures! In the first instalment of a new series, Forge World’s games design guru Andy Hoare discusses what he’s been working on in recent weeks…
Andy: Well, my days in lockdown have been taken up with making sure the many projects we’re working on continue to make progress. Players of Necromunda, Adeptus Titanicus and all the other games my team produces can be assured there’s plenty in the pipeline!
In my downtime, however, I’ve been working on some extra miniatures for several of the games I play most regularly, with the focus right now being on my Horus Heresy Emperor’s Children army, my Horus Heresy White Scars army, and my Necromunda Escher gang. Add to that some Titans for my Adeptus Titanicus Legio Metalica force and there’s plenty to last the next few weeks!
For my Emperor’s Children, I recently painted another 15-man Legion Tactical Squad in Mark IV power armour. To my mind, a Horus Heresy player can never have enough Legion Tactical Squads. I’m a big fan of games involving as much infantry as possible, so that they look like the cover of a Black Library Horus Heresy novel!
I’ve also recently finished a Legion Arquitor Bombard with Graviton-Charge Cannon, which is part of a siege-themed version of my Emperor’s Children army I’m steadily working towards. Next up for my Emperor’s Children are some units and characters wearing Mark V power armour – the eponymous ‘Heresy Armour’. This is for a mid-Age of Darkness themed Drop Pod assault variant on the army, representing the Emperor’s Children during the Traitors’ long march on Terra, where they would have conducted countless planetary assaults in the name of the Warmaster.
Next up in the queue are my White Scars, for which I have a squad of Ebon Keshig Terminators to do. I’m planning to paint these in a metallic black by applying the Contrast paint Black Templar over a Leadbelcher basecoat, which I think should make them stand out in the army.
My Necromunda Escher gang is an ongoing project, and while I have plenty of gangers I need to catch up on Bounty Hunters and Hangers-on. I’m a big fan of Bounty Hunters, mainly because they add something different to the gang (in terms of skills or weapons the gang may not normally have access to). While they cost quite a lot of creds upfront, they invariably earn it back by bringing in the big bounties! Over the next few weeks I hope to get Kal Jericho and Scabs finished off, as well as Ragnir Gunnstein, Squat Ammo-jack and then after that I’ll probably aim to do a Dome Runner Hanger-on and maybe another Bounty Hunter.
If I get all that done it’s on to some my Adeptus Titanicus force! I have most of an Axiom Maniple for my Legio Metalica done, I just need to finish off the Warlord. The force is currently lacking Knightly support however, but I’m fairly sure I have a box of Cerastus Knights around, so House Krast will soon be answering the call to Engine-war.
I’m sure like most hobbyists, I have several months' worth of miniatures stashed around the house so there’s little danger of running out of models to paint. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone’s freshly painted armies!
Thanks, Andy! Keep an eye on warhammer-community.com over the coming weeks, as we'll be checking in with other studio and Warhammer Community personalities to see how they’ve been getting on in their seclusion. What’s on your painting desk? Let us know and show us your projects on our various Facebook pages and on Instagram (#PaintingWarhammer #WarhammerCommunity) and Twitter (@WarComTeam).