# Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons; The Forces Of Prospero Army Project



## Kolonel Grotsnik

​
*INTRO*
Last year I read ‘A Thousand Sons’ and they’re by far the most interesting Space Marine legion ever. Of course I was already interested in them thanks to the Horus Heresy Artbooks so when I brought it I already knew a bit about the Thousands Son interesting background and suspected that I would want to build an army of them after reading it. As expected I started work on a Scarab Occult army sortly after finishing the book.

*WHO ARE THE SCARAB OCCULT*
For those of you who haven’t read the book the Scarab Occult were the Thousand Sons veteran psykers and I believe made up the entire first company. It consisted of several cults, each specialising in a unique use of psychic sorcerery…
*
The Corvidae*_ - Able to see the future and warn the brothers of threats in the middle of a fight.
*The Pyrae* - Skilled Pyrokinetics able to generate and control fire. Shields projectiles you name it and control robots.
*The Pavoni* - Able to manipulate body chemisty; boil blood, evaporate oxygen in the lungs. Disturbing stuff.
*The Athanaeans *- Powerful telepaths used for reading enemy squad leaders minds and communicate to their brothers.
*The Raptora* - Telekines that can offensively hurl things at enemies or attack them directly or defensibly generate ’kine shields’ powerful invisible barriers._

Luckily at the time the two best releases required for such a project came out Codex: Grey Knights an army of psychic Astartes and Tomb Kings with some nice bitz to use. I’m also keen to build an army with a small amount of models after completing 64 infantry and 19 tanks for my last project. Lugging that stuff up a hill to my gaming club ain't fun lol.

*UNIT CONCEPTS SO FAR!*
*Magnus The Red*
I considered including the Primarch at first using Lord Draigo but then thought how unpractical it was as Magnus destroyed 3 xenos titans in the book by himself, so unless I was going to use count as stats from a titan he wasn’t going to be in the army.








​*
Little Magnus*
So I decided to create a captain nicknamed 'little Magnus' due to his resemblance to the Primarch similar to little Horus of the Luna Wolves/Sons Of Horus. I then found the prefect model…








​
True I won’t be able to use it in GW stores but I think he’d make a great Draigo counts as with storm shield in one hand. I’m also debating if I should attempt to green stuff some more hair on him? 
*
One Of The Captains*
I plan to convert one of the Thousand Sons captains from the book, not Ahriman thou as everyone does him and I think there are much better ones to choose from. 

*Interceptors*
I been considering the idea of using artificer armoured marine as ‘counts as’ terminators for a while as marines are always spoken of in the 40k fiction of being able to take down hold squads of infantry and having an small army of elite dramatically posed marines was tempting.








​
Of course as you can see from these three I plan to model every warrior to look like a hardened veteran, attached wargear and robes, the iron armour should represent artificer armour very well and I've also modelled a personal teleporter on the backpack. Thou storm bolters would be represented by magical bolts with the heavier weapons being modelled as powerful spells being cast.

However after asking around on forums about it was decided that they looked too much like interceptors and would be confusing. So these guys will be used as my interceptors.

*Terminators*
So given on how my artificer armour idea wasn’t going to work I decided to focus on converting terminator armour, I had already come up with some ideas on how I could do it with the legs being the only problem then I saw the micro art studio legs and everything fitted into place.

I also used a pair of chapterhouse shoulder pads I had ordered during a previous project out of curiosity and the Scibor Scarab Shield to replace the storm bolter plus a few other bits. I went with the power armoured helm because I prefer it to the angular terminator version.
















​
I've also decided to scrap the invisible magic bolts for actual weapons so I’ve brought several of the SM commander’s storm bolter which was the easiest to convert. However rather than trying to remove the awkward mould line on the top detail I got rid of it and was going to replace it with a bolter sight from the tactical box set, but instead I made my own sights using the parts of the interceptor teleporter packs instead.
My favourite squad member is the hammer user, I love seeing thunder hammers in Dawn Of War and Space Marine as you really feel the impacts. So I decided to copy the animation when the force commander raises it in the air then brings it down on an enemy from DOW.
Finally there’s the reaper Autocannon which will represent my Psycannons, I got rid of the skull and added a eagles wing to the side to make it less chaos themed, I also swapped a halberd to the left hand.

I’m looking forward to seeing one of my squads charge for the first time as they completely dwarf standard models, just look at their size compared to the black reach marine. The dreadnoughts will be quite big as well so this will be an army of giants!
*
Dreadnoughts*
It took a while but I final got a hold of a pair of relic contemptors and after a bit of work the first one was completed.








​ 
Aside the basic bits such as putting a scarab over the Aquila and a nice head crest on the helmet I converted the heavy bolters to Autocannons. I shorted down the IG Heavy weapon team Autocannons because I felt they would have looked odd if I had kept them at their original length.
Another edition was 2 strong magnets to make the arms exchangeable, now they weren’t wide enough so I brought some plastic tubing the same width as the arms to put them in and thanks to the Dread‘s size this hasn‘t effected the model too much. 

I'll talk about the specialised boltgun that the interceptor has in my next post.

*& MUCH MORE*
Now I know that people using the Grey Knight codex for Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons is common. But I feel one of the biggest benefits to the codex is it’s ability to allow me to field the other forces of Prospero alongside the thousand sons. Will get to each of them later in the log but for now here’s a quick recap.

Warrior henchmen allow me to field an attachment of Prospero Spire Guard with a general representing Coteaz.

The Legio Cybernetica robotic units can be represented by basic dreadnought and paladins.

& the Thousand Sons Hidden One Operatives can be represented by assassins and inquisitors. 
*
LAST BUT NOT LEAST*
Due to GW’s attitude towards the hobby side of their business, and continuing price rise I’ve decided to make this army my last, but with so much potential I feel it will be my best project ever.

*Anyway I look forward to hearing your feedback on the current and future conversions for this project.*


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## normtheunsavoury

All looks really good so far, interesting take on the Tsons.

There is a slight niggle though (only a very slight one!)

The legs on the Terminators look too long for the torsos, making them look like they're on stilts. It is only a slight thing and I'm sure it could be remedied quite easily with some green stuff or something.


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## Dave T Hobbit

This looks like a very characterful force.

I agree with Norm's thought that the Terminators look a little stretched. I feel the arms of the Dreadnought have the same too long aesthetic to them.

Two of your Terminators appear to have a Crux Terminatus; I thought that honour was not created until after the Heresy.


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## bitsandkits

They look amazing ,apart from those metal shoulder pads they are way way too large


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## TheReverend

I like most of teh work you've done so far, but there's a few things I'm not sure about. I like the terminators but not sure about the heads. I like the dread but don't really like teh arms. 

I'm sure it'll all look better when it's painted up so I'm looking forward to that. 

Keep up the good work! 

Rev


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## docgeo

great work so far!! I was thinking of doing a pre-heresy TS...I have even bought a lot of egyptian bits on line. Yours look great and I will be following this log with great interest. +rep


Doc


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

Okay regarding the issues raised...

*Legs;* If you look closely you'll see that the grey knight torso is not the only part of the upper body as it has a small part underneath the waist like all terminator armour. They'll likely look better when painted.
*Shoulder Pads;* Have you seen the size of pre-heresy shoulder pads, thou I guess some of the poses do make them look a bit too big. 
*Heads; *I went with that helmet design based of the picture below.
*Dread Arms;* Personally I prefer the extended arms to the short ones, allows for more dramatic posing.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*BROTHER KARGORI RETURNS TO THE FRAY!*
Behold the glory of the Thousand Sons dreadnought! A full week and half’s work but without doubt worth it in the end. I’m still planning some additional work such as a name on the script perhaps name it after a dread from the Horus Heresy art book; Kargori.
It’s nice to see the scarab replacement and heavy bolter to Autocannons conversion worked out. I did consider adding water effects to the base but many people believed it would ruin it. 








​ 
Anyway this will certainly keep me motivated, now to continue work with the terminators and the white robes that I keep putting off but will need to be done in the end!

*Omen Pattern Bolters* 
One of the biggest problems I was facing with power armoured grey knights was thinking of a way to represent storm bolters on my interceptors without using actual storm bolters or ‘invisible magical bolts’. Luckily I came across the ‘Omen pattern boltgun’ converted by Wolfs16 but while he used scout pistols I used the forge world Umbra Ferrox bolter and replaced the barrel. Creating a suitable stand in for a storm bolter that can be modeled 1 or 2 handed.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

WoW, ummm that was pretty freaking bloody fast painting! ....Nevermind, jsut read that it took you a week. Was thinking, didnt he just post the unpainted model yesterday...lol! Anyways, Fantastic looking Dread mate! I also like the way yours Sons are shaping up, def diggin the old school armour.

One thing tho, maybe a little bit of literature on the chest scroll?

Keep up the good work mate.

Some Rep for the sweet Dread!

Regards,
DoE


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*2nd SQUAD ASSEMBLED (MOSTLY)*
Well I’ve just completed the assembly of the 2nd squad. The 2 handed halberd won’t hold together with blue tac for the photo and the I’m desperately searching for dark angel helmet wings to convert the remaining reaper Autocannon to be like the first one. So here the other warriors from that squad, remember I’ll be adding grenades, pouches and other bits round the belts when they are finished.








So far I’m happy with the warriors with the hammer and sword, but while it seemed like a good idea at the time I’m not sure if the squad leader reading the tome works as he looks a little… idle? Perhaps having him holding his staff up will make it look a bit better?


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## LTP

Wow. I am impressed. Lovely conversions and a very exciting project to keep an eye on . 

I love the colours and that dread is just fantastic.

I think ill subscribe to this. 

Have some rep and please post more! 

LTP


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## CLT40k

These guys look great! + Rep


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## UDLT

Wow, very impressive! Makes me want to drop my necrons, go back in time, and do pre-heresy thousand sons!


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## louisshli

Kolonel Grotsnik,

I must say you're doing incredible work here. The interesting conversions and the heresy era Astartes armour is all very tasteful. Your Contemptor Dreadnought turned out brilliantly after it's been painted. Prior to that, I wasn't too sure about the extended arms but looking at it now, definitely a good move. So you're essentially fielding a GK army but using the Sons of Prospero as proxy?

No wonder you get to arm your Dreadnought with two twin-linked autocannons. I wish I can do that with my Dark Angels, but our stupid Dreadnoughts insists on having a CCW arm. I'm thinking of purchasing a Relic Contemptor as well, but was hoping to arm it w/ two Kheres pattern assault cannons (LOL). After reading the FW rules, realized even the Contemptor can only field one weapon arm, while the other has to be a CCW (unless fielding a dual-fist config).

I guess I can always give it a CML for that extra bunch.

Anyway dude, your painting is also very fine, everything is so vibrant without being tacky. It's great work indeed.... for Magnus (umm... Loyal Magnus that is)!! +rep


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## Midge913

Very nice work here on all the models so far mate! Love the contemptor and the conversions, just stunning work.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*SOME MORE RANGED SUPPORT!*
Well I’ve taken a break from the terminators and decided to build some more interceptors, and was reminded of how frustrating it is to get those tabards made plus attach the energy cells on the backpack! 
Along with some more omen class Boltguns I’ve also converted the Psycannon into an Autocannon. The sergeant is going to have the snake from the top of the staff from the first set mounted on his rod so I can replace it with a thunder hammer to make the squad leader look like techmarine.








​
*Now to get painting!*


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## Scythes

These look great, I'm up to 15 MkIII models so far myself, it would scare the crap out of me to convert FW models considering how they are. Kudos to you sir!


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*PROGRESS!*
Only 3 more to go and the interceptors will be fully completed. I decided to make the thunder hammer into a staff like weapon as the original looked too brutish for a thousand son in power armour. The Omen class bolters are also coming out well.








​
I’ve also been working on a group of bare heads to go on some of the thousand sons and I’m pleased with how they’ve come out. Especially since flesh has always been an obstacle for me but thanks to a lesson from a friend I was able to reach the quality I was after.








​
Regarding the snake staff; it felt a waste to not use it after replacing it with a hammer so I instead mounted on the dark angel arm for the squad leader instead.

Now if I can only get 3 more terminators and the Hidden One agent that is my Vindicare assassin done by the end of the month I’ll be set to make my deadline. Still dreading painting the white robes as I had enough trouble painting the small ones on these guys but I am improving.


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## Turnip86

Really nice looking army so far with some cool conversions that aren't over the top. The flesh looks great on the sergeant by the way. I'm curious how you did it because I've always had a bit of a block with flesh as well.

Keep up the good work and have some rep


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## Midge913

Very nice work mate!! I love the concept and execution of the conversions and the paint work is very nice.


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## CLT40k

Great work, I really like the autocannon guy.


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## TheReverend

Wow, autocannon guy looks awesome! They all look great though. I especially like the light blue in the vents contrasting against the red and gold, that was a good call and extremely well painted.

Rev


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## shaantitus

Impressive, your intricate weapon conversions deserve the highest praise. The dread result is fantastic. I have allways been a fan of the T-sons and you have indeed done them justice. Most repworthy.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*ALL IN AN EVENING'S WORK!*
Well another evening’s work and another 3 terminators completed and ready to paint. Remember that the belts bulked out with pouches, grenades and other items after they are completed. After posing the 2nd Justicar with the book I felt I needed to go back and create a more interesting pose for the 1st Justicar, so I’ll replace the torso of the guy in the middle after it’s painted with the 1st squad leader’s with the 1k sons style helmet.








*Now back to painting!*


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## Midge913

Loving the center guys pose. That curled left hand is very imposing.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE WHITE RAGE!*
I’ve spend the last two weeks trying to master painting the white robes and it just isn’t working! What’s frustrating is the rest of the work will be rendered pointless if I don’t get it right as the robes will make or break the models.
The tabards were one thing but full robes are proving to be a much tougher challenge, so I ask…

*“Can anyone link me a good painting tutorial for white robes?”*

*“Also given the size is it possible to use an airbrush to do it, cause if so I‘ll throw down the cash to use one?”*

I’ve considered some alternatives but I’m not sure purple would look right and black would make them look too much like blood angels. So I’d be grateful for any help with this.









_A suitable picture given the situation._​
*BITZ WANTED*
Another thing I could use a hand with are some bitz I’m after so I can complete my next 2 conversions which aren‘t available at any bits stores at the moment. So if you have any of these bits PM me and let me know.
_
Imperial Guard Autocannons (For the 2nd Dread)
Empire Flagellant Touches (for my Pyrae Captain)_


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## Skari

I really like the conversion work. Keep it up!


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*A NEW PLAN, A BETTER PLAN?*
Due to my slow progress with learning how to paint white robes I decided it was time to consider the alternative, as I’ve mentioned before the only other colour than would suit them was purple similar to the sorcerer on the novel’s front cover. So after an evening of painting I ended up with this…








To be honest I didn’t expect it could work so well, I think the purple makes him look even more mystic and blends well with the rest of the model. I painted some gold icons round the rim but the dust effect covered most of them up, thou I likely add some gold trim to better highlight the robe seam. Armywise having the Scarab Occult terminators wearing purple robes and scarabs compared to the basic troop's white tabards and markings could make them look very elite?

I’m still debating trying it with white. *Anyway I’m anxious to hear feedback regarding the robe’s colour so let me know what you think on if it works or not?
*


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## Kreuger

Its difficult to comment for certain without having the white robes to compare. That said, the purple is looking really nice. I'd be tempted to mix in a little something else to the purple to desaturate it a little. I think as saturated as it is, it might be fighting with the red of the armor. Otherwise I think it works really well, and is quite well executed.

The conversions and painting are both clean and top notch. I'm particularly impressed by the eyes on the one un-helmeted guy. I typically despise the way eyes look when painted on helmetless models. There are a few armies on H-O who do a wonderful job on everything except the eyes which look buggy and terrible. Yours on the other hand don't look like his eyes are popping out of the socket.

The height of the models wearing the robes I think looks strange in terms of 40K because it makes the scale significantly closer to reality. I think the height looks perfect. The only thing that might help some of those conversions are additional talismans, gubbins, or rosaries of chaos hanging down from their belts. As it is they do look a little divided by their waists. the model with the purple robe actually breaks up the waist line with his purity seals and car keys nicely.

The title bars across the bottom of each image are also a nice touch.

Keep up the excellent work.

Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Dave T Hobbit

I really like the purple robes. The folds flow very well.

I you were looking for that last percentage point you could make the gems, pipes, and eyes slightly yellow-green rather than pure green so it formed a perfect split complementary scheme; however that is really pushing the envelope.

I am not a fan of the dirty hems; I think they would look more magical if they stayed clean.


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## forkmaster

This thread has a lot of win. Though I'm no good painter or converter, I cant come with much tip more than perhaps "steal" ideas. Hahah. I will follow this closely.  The only thing Im not so keen upon is the "count as", BUT as CSM: Codex sucks, I accepts this is the better alternative.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THEY LURK IN THE SHADOWS!*
The Thousand Sons are by far the most interesting of all the legions, it’s just a shame the Thousand Sons today are so boring to play in the chaos codex. A perfect example would be the Hidden Ones who were made up of the Thousand Sons’ scouts and would operate as spies and espionage agents, some programmed using telepathy so well they were unaware of their mission. So here are my 2 agents…
*
Basic Agent*
I created this guy to represent an Inquisitor in smaller point games for my HQ and I’m very pleased with how his paint job went. I decided to give them both battle scratches as they will have likely been out in the field for long periods of time before linking up with the main force, hence the camera and comm on his armour.
_









_*Elite Agent*
I also converted my Vindicare into a hidden one veteran and he was fun to paint, I also decided to convert the rifle as the scout one seemed too small for something that will puncture land raiders. Only downside is because he is a metal model I needed to give him a coat of vanish to avoid chipping however despite only giving him a quick spray of GW Ardcoat he’s still a bit too shiny for my liking._










_Well that it’s for Hidden Ones for the moment, I might make a Callidus assassin in future either as a hidden one or convert sleeper agents 1 for each army _(that can be captured and programed)._

My next focus will be finishing up the remaining interceptors and painting up 'Little Magnus'_.
_


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## Dave T Hobbit

Good conversions.

I find Testors Hard Cote to be an very robust matt varnish so you might want to try that to avoid shiny models.


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## Djinn24

Very awesome work, I can't believe I jhave over looked this one for so long.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*TO ARMS!*
The interceptors are pretty much complete except for the sergeant who has Dark Angel robed legs so is taking longer to finish. I left the one who was dramatically posed out of the picture because he just doesn’t look right.








Also someone asked how one of the terminators looked next to the interceptors, so here’s a picture. I think they go well together...








*THE FINAL DEADLINE!*
This project has taken longer than expected I originally planned for a tournament in January then one in February, this time I’m aiming for my club’s annual tournament on the 24th of March. Even though I’m busy moving house I only have ‘Little Magnus’ and a 2nd dreadnought to go so my chances are high I will make this deadline. I plan to finish off the terminator robes during a week away to see my family that way I only need to take small selection of paints with me to complete them.

*"Soon we shall reveal ourselves to the space wolves, at last we will have revenge!"* :spiteful:


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## Dagmire

this is outstanding sir, you do the hobby justice.
XXX
D


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## Midge913

Dagmire said:


> this is outstanding sir, you do the hobby justice.
> XXX
> D


Seconded. Wonderful work on those man. They definitely will stand out on the table.


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## Red Corsairs

Wow... how on earth did I miss this thread? You have some amazing work here, modelling and painting. Have some well deserved rep.


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## Psydom

Top work! you really give beginners like me something to aspire too, if I hadn't read the whole thread I would have thought those were bought rather than converted!


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## demon bringer

this is a really nice army i love the converted weapons and the colour scheme + rep. also i wanted to know if you've considered using any of the new necron weapons


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*LITTLE MAGNUS*
When doing a pre-heresy army trying to represent the Primarch is a hopeless task as there is nothing in the rules that can do them justice. Magnus The Red is the same and perhaps even more given that he took down two xenos titans by himself in the novel.

So after finding the ideal model on Scibor Minaitures I decided to convert a ‘Little Magnus’ based off ‘Little Horus Aximand’ in Horus Rising who is one of the Luna Wolves captains who’s splitting image of the Primarch earned him the nickname ‘little Horus’ which he was often called by. This way I feel I can get away with fielding a Magnus look a like in my army. 








I added the chest plate horns and replaced the damaged small shields that went over the arms with eagle wings from an imperial Aquila symbol, the arms look horrible underneath so really needed something to cover them up. I also asked a friend to increase the hairline with greenstuff. Normally I would have tired it myself but with a £16 minature I thought it best to have a expert do it rather than risk ruining the model. I'm sure a little help won't hurt and besides I'll likely be replacing him with a Ahriman conversion later as a Librarian has a lot more use in an advancing gunline of terminators than a grand master, that and unlike 'little magnus' I can use him in a GW store.

Anyway he'll be the last model I'll paint as I can play a few smaller games after I complete the 2nd dreadnoughts and finish the terminators I'll paint him up in time for him to lead the army on the 24th.


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## Red Corsairs

I've always liked that Scibor mini, I look forward to seeing your take on it.


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## Midge913

Nice to see Scibor get some play as I love his sculpts. I look forward to seeing him all painted up.


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## Deneris

Love the work you've done so far...

As for the robes, I vote for white over purple; The white and red are more striking together.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*MORE BIG GUNS*
I’ve completed my 2nd dreadnought however I had originally planned to have him going up the ruined base but the legs just won’t go together after I glued them so I rotated the base instead. Like the first one the weapons are exchangeable so when the model is glued together I can rotate the left weapon to be facing upwards a bit more.








I had planned only to have 2 Venerable Dreads but I’ve decided to downgrade them to basic ones and invest in a 3rd, so after their first tournament I’ll be building a 3rd dread with a close combat arm and multi melta.

*THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!
*With 25 days to go the pressure is on to meet the deadline, sadly I’ll be moving house this week so I won’t have a much time to work on the army! However I have the following week off work so I’ll spend a lot of time during then to get the dreadnought and terminators finished, then a week to paint up little Magnus hopefully leaving me 1 week to spare.*

Anyway let me know what you think to the pose?*


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## Red Corsairs

The pose looks good. Looking forward to seeing both the dread and little Magnus finished.


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## Khorne's Fist

This thread keeps getting better and better. Loving the contemptor. Well done on all the good work so far.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE LEGIO CYBERNETICA PREPARES FOR WAR!
* Given how much my recent flat move and new HD TV has depleted my finances it’s unlikely I will be investing in a 3rd £45 Contemptor Dreadnought. Instead I will be ordering the multi-melta and fist weapon for my first dread and building two Legio Cybernetica robots to represent my rifle dreads.

As mentioned before I will be using the old space crusade dreadnoughts as they are how I pictured the robots mentioned in the Thousand Sons novel, but armed with autocannons much like this conversion I found earlier in the week...










I'm currently experimenting with my own twin Autocannon weapon design and will be using the feet from a killa kan as the original feet are attached to the base and are impossible to remove (well) so it can be placed on a resin base.

However there are two questions I’d like feedback on please…

_*1. The robots in the book are described as blue and gold should I paint the blue metallic in remembrance to my old robot army, or given how it's hard to add depth to most metallics should I use basic paints and paint them a dark blue so I can use the blending technique on the flat services?

2. Should I keep those legs or replace them with armoured sentinel legs so I don’t have two robots in the exact same pose?*_

*As always I'm grateful for any feedback you can provide.*


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## CLT40k

I like the blue and silver inh the Old Robot Army.... The silver trim is what sets it off...

Might make sense to mock up the sentinal legs... but I think the existing looks pretty cool too... Only real issue is that the sentinal is a lot more "blocky" than this one


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## TheReverend

great work. I love the contemptor, the pose and the guns look awesome! 

looking forward to seeing some of those space crusade dreads!


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE LAST STRETCH!*
8 days to go before the Thousand sons’ first tournament, which I’m determined to meet as this project has taken far longer than I would had expected as I started this project round this time last year after I finished reading a thousand sons in Febuary! 
As such I missed my first deadline which was back in January then another tournament in February. However sadly because I’ve just moved house I’m running a bit behind so this next week will see a lot of time spent painting the final models. 
However the 2nd dreadnought and strike squad sergeant have been completed and the last three terminators have been assembled and I’ve starting painting them. But I’ve still got ‘Mini Magnus’ to complete and the remaining 14 terminator robes which I will be painting while I visit my family for the next 4 days since I only really need the two purple paints and the wash to complete them.
I will try and free up the time to upload pictures of them but it’s likely I’ll be too busy as I will be using all my free time to complete the army in time for the tournament. 







 
*SUPPORT PROSPERO?*
I’d be grateful for any help regarding these two subjects guys…
First does anyone have any Autocannons from the imperial guard sentinel kit I could buy for my upcoming 6th Fellowship Cataphract robots as I need another set of 4?
& Secondly can anyone post some links to a selection of magical symbols that I can paint on the trim of the robes like the first one? _(not too complex)_










*Now, back to painting!!!!*


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## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

Can't believe I missed this thread somehow. Some amazing work in here Grotsnik, both in the areas of painting and conversions. It is a real inspiration to anyone wishing to start up a Pre-Heresy army. I do like the contrast in normal troop and elites, with the white and purple robes. The conversions on the Contemptor and Terminators are quiet impressive.

Did a quick Google search on magic runes. Most of them seem to be either Nordic runes or complex patterns a bit big for the small area your focusing on.

+ rep for what is done...and for what it to come.


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## Dave T Hobbit

If you want smallish symbols then Enochian would probably work.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE THOUSAND SONS UNLEASHED!*
Well my army took to the field in a small local tournament today and I walked away with 2 victories and 2 enemy forces wiped out but lost in the 3rd round against a horde of fast moving, AP packing Dark Eldar. Overall a fantastic day given it was my first 3 games with the army, which looks fantastic when all together.

The terminators still require a few finishing touches such as battle damage and their belts’ pouches, grenades and scripture as I needed the time to complete ‘Mini Magnus’ for today. 
I’ll start photographing the completed units tomorrow and the terminator squads later in the week when they are finished.

*It’s nice to finally see a year’s work on the board at last!*


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## Tossidin

Congratulations man! 
I am really looking forwards to seeing the whole army


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*DREADNOUGHT TAG TEAM!*
The 2nd dreadnought is completed, nothing much to say about it apart from posing was a pain due to the base’s angle. 








The plan was to downgrade the dreads to basic and get a 3rd but I certainly can’t afford to part with £45 for another Contemptor so I’ll be arming the first dread with a close combat weapon and multi-metla and fielding 2 Legio Cybernetica robots for the rifle dreads instead. Course this guy will still be busted out now and then for some tag teaming.








*THE LAST INTERCEPTOR*
I also completed the last interceptor using the only decent robe I produced in my long crusade to master painting white, thou I might give it another try with the new GW paints for my upcoming commander model. A mace like hammer seems too brutish for a thousand son to wield so I decided to place it on a staff and make him appear like a techmarine instead.








*FOOL’S GOLD!*
I spent the last 3 days before the tournament painting up little or ‘Mini Magnus’ as he is now called and I was unsure about the model afterwards as something felt off about the model. 








I discussed it at the tournament with a few players and 1 hit the nail on the head; the gold! In small amounts it looks good but for due to the 2 washes and dry brushing required to pick out the details it looks very bland, which is bad given he the HQ in an army of colourful and well painted models. Also Magnus does have red skin he has tanned bronze like skin and getting that the right tone was a nightmare as was the hair.

Overall I’ll feel the model’s a bit of a let down so I’ll be replacing him soon with a Thousand sons captain similar in appearance to pre-heresy Ahriman from the art books to use as my grand master or Librarian, Mini Magnus will then be stored and brought out when I want to field Draigo and a paladin wing.

*Now to add the last touches on the terminators! At least now I can take it easy.*


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## Dave T Hobbit

Excellent looking pair of dreads there.

I would have called the gold on Magnus understated rather than bland; possibly if your added a few more coloured areas, such as the sawtooth inset on the blade.

My niggle is with the tabard at the rear; the red and violet sash look to close in hue for me. I feel it would pop better if they were more distinct.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*TERMINATOR ASSAULT; FIRST WAVE!*
Here they are at long last, my scarab occult terminators. I started work on them in September last year with each pair taking several evenings to paint, sadly they didn’t really go anywhere for a while as the robes weren’t completed till this month after I had given up on trying to paint white before the final details such as the grenades, pouches and scripture were added!

I had planned to give them all symbols on the trim of the robes like the one of the left but dirt covered most of it up so it seemed a waste of time, instead I painted the symbols that _‘Skits’_ provided on the each of the cloths attached to the belt of each warrior. 








I’ll upload the 2nd squad at a later date when I get a better quality photo of them and the 3rd when the 'wolves' are added, I’ll also be uploading more detailed pictures of certain squad members so feel free to suggest a model you’d like a better look at?

Also they looked fantastic when they charged a group of black templar marines, this picture should give you a small hint why. :grin:


----------



## Dînadan

Nice work, any chance of a group shot of the whole army?


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

Dînadan said:


> Nice work, any chance of a group shot of the whole army?


Sadly my camera ain't good enough for those shots, hopefully someone with a better camera will photograph them at an upcoming tournament.


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## shaantitus

Well the end result is fantastic. Really like the the old space crusade dreads. I did much the same for my gk/dark mechanicus. Although I have gone with an autocannon/assault cannon combo on both of mine.
Most repworthy. One of the most impressive and well executed non standard armies i have seen. Fantastic.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Edit....double Post.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Awesome work! I really dig all the hard work and effort youve put into your army, it shows! A little curious as to how your doing the weathering at the bottem of their cloaks?

Again, great work!

Regards,
DoE


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## Bane_of_Kings

This is fantastic, shame about the army shot but otherwise these are some of the best Warhammer 40k (or rather 30k) miniatures that I've seen yet - I love everything about them, and have some +rep.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*TERMINATOR ASSAULT; SECOND WAVE!*
Here’s the 2nd squad of terminators, gotta say my favourite terminator overall is the squad leader reading words of power from a book, mainly because he looks so relaxed.








*EVERYONE’S QUESTION*
So many people are asking for a full army shot but sadly my camera isn’t cut out for it, with luck they be photographed by someone with a much beefier camera at their first real tournament on the 14th of this month. Till then here’s a small group photo of all the units.








*THE POWER OF THE TUTELARIES!*
With the army completed I’m now started work on the tutelary objective markers. Tularies where warp entities that the thousand sons summoned to enhance and help channel their powers. These were inspired by the amazing conversion work done by Isotope99 on BOLS who converted Tularies for each of his warriors, his thousand sons won best army at Throne Of Skulls so I recommend you check them out.








Anyway like him I converted each of them to represent their cult so going from the right…

_*Pyrae:* Converted from a dark eldar mandrake, I decided to have him floating above the base, thou he’s the only one I have doubts about as I‘m sure I could do better for a pyrokinetic?
*Corvidae:* This one was a no brainer as the raven is the cult’s main symbol.
*Athenean:* I converted a wraith to look like some kind of dark puppet master given that this is a cult of powerful telepaths. 
*Raptora:* My personal favourite, he was converted with the idea that the Raptora are probably the most powerful as they are able to create kinetic shields and move items with telekinesis (which I added as a base detail). I actually based his off the spirit from the Soul Calibur V game._

The Pavoni tutelary will be done later in the week, which will be converted from the dark elf sorceress. *Also if anyone can suggest a good method to paint glowing sprirts please send me a link? *


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## Dave T Hobbit

Excellent work; I especially like the Sorcerer reading a book.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE POWER OF THE TUTELARIES*
After a week of painting my Tutelary objectives are finally finished, again for those of you who don’t know Tutelaries were ‘friendly daemons’ (of sorts) that the thousand sons employed as familiars.
I tried several techniques but in the end used the white dwarf tutorial for the spirits on the vampire counts’ mortis engine with 2 alterations, I used the new light blue dry brush paint and finished it off with a coat of the new blue glaze. The end results speak for themselves.








So regarding them each individually…
*Raptora;* I added some more rocks to add to the telekinetic effect.
*Pavoni;* I was going to use a wood elf sorceress but then the plastic dark elf one came out, I decided to give her a ghost/serpent like tail as it seemed suitable to a cult that has healing powers. The hardest part was attaching her to the base, in the end I glued the end of her tail into the base and painted an effect to make it look like she was emerging through the pillar.
*Atheneans;* I planned to add some spikes on his back to give him some more detail but I instead gave him some much cooler looking wings.
*Pyrae;* I was planning to ditch this guy as he seemed a bit dull compared to the others, but then I painted him! Now I’m debating if I should paint the flames yellow or purple?
*Corvidae; *Still a simple but great Tutelary.
*So tell me; which is your favourite?*


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## spanner94ezekiel

Either the Raptora or the Atheneans are my favourite. I agree that the Pyrae does look a little static, but I'm sure that won't matter once you've got a full paint job done on him.

Great plog, +rep


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*MY OWN JUDGEMENT OF NIKAEA*
A bit of thousand sons’ fluff, the Council of Nikaea was when Magnus and his legion were put on trial during the discussion to outlaw the use of psychic powers and sorcery within the Imperium. 
Tomorrow I’m off to Warhammer World for a friendly store to store tournament, however the tournament is run by one of the event staff who will likely give me my own little trial of Nikaea regarding the components I’ve used for the terminators. 

When I first started work on the terminators I sent an email to GW showing an image from a Deathwing army that was also using the robes asking if it would be okay to use them at Throne Of Skulls. They replied…


Nick Bayton said:


> “I’m afraid you won’t be allowed to use those miniatures in one of our events, if Games Workshop makes a model for something, we* expect *you guys to use it. Games Workshop makes Deathwing Terminators, so we would *need* you to use those. ”


Feeling as thou the creative side of the hobby was a mere shadow at the HQ I decided to not bother going to Throne Of Skulls. But since then the army has gone on to become my best work so I would like to take them to Throne Of Skulls later this year.
So in the unlikely situation the issue isn’t brought up, I’ll talk to the events person about it and see if I can be allowed to feature at least 1 terminator squad in an army full of conversions made of all GW parts for when I complete my Legio Cybernetcia and Spire Guard allies. I try and explain that a friend green stuffed the robes on top of wire and terminator leg parts. 
*
I’ll let you know the verdict tomorrow and how I got on at the tournament.*


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## mcmuffin

Tell them you sculpted the bottoms of them, they can't do shit about that. This is why I despise GW tournaments. Great army, +Rep


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## TheReverend

Mate, this is absolutely fantastic work!!!

And I thought the rule was that the mini had to be 50% GW bits. You only have the lower half of those terminators being non-GW so surely that will be ok? 

Hope it all goes well, you should easily win any best painted or best army award that is going.

Rev


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*MY OWN JUDGEMENT OF NIKAEA; THE CONCLUSION!*
5 minutes! 5 minutes between starting my first game and being asked by GW officials if I had any alternative models and told to remove them, in the end they gave me 10 random uncoated terminators I had to proxy as my terminator squads. I was hoping to use them at least one small tournament.
Despite that I had 3 good games; I got revenge against space wolves in the 1st round, a very close game against guard in the 2nd and 3rd was an interesting game against Grey Knights. 
However the issue with the terminators came back to plague me as I suspect I was given a painting score of 0 as despite 3 straight victories, Someone else won the tournament with a fully painted Ork army with 2 victories and 1 loss. But at the end of the day it’s a friendly tournament so I wasn’t too fussed as I enjoyed all 3 games, this just left a small shadow on an otherwise perfect day. 








*UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL*
So if I ever want to completely play at Warhammer World with this army I’m clearly going to need to replace my terminators, which I can do with my upcoming Spire Guard and Cybernetica allied units. 

At the next 1000pt tournament (likely in Oct) I’ll simply replace the 470pt terminators with a Coteaz and a detachment of Spire Guard henchmen squads. As for Throne Of Skulls itself if I’m unable to find something to replace all 10 terminators I will likely use a squad of Cataphact robots which instead of Paladins will act as stand in terminators. 

Will see how it goes.

*At least I’ll be able to unleash my full army this Saturday at Maelstrom Games.*


----------



## TheReverend

Mate, those terminators looked great, so maybe just try and greenstuff some robes on some terminator legs to achieve the same effect? 

That is shitty, and a resounding boo to the guy who won the tournament even if he lost a game. 

Glad you had fun though

Rev


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

TheReverend said:


> A resounding boo to the guy who won the tournament even if he lost a game.


He's a good guy from my store, the boo belongs to the staff member who gave my army a painting score of 0 after replacing it with unpainted terminators.


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## Midge913

Kolonel Grotsnik said:


> He's a good guy from my store, the boo belongs to the staff member who gave my army a painting score of 0 after replacing it with unpainted terminators.


Typical GW....... That is why I absolutely refuse to play in official GW tourneys.


----------



## Tossidin

As annoying as it is, we know the rule beforehand and hence it is our own responsibility to come with "GW models". 
When you then meet up with models that aren't from gw, you are taking the risk knowingly. I don't see why you think you should get full paint scores when you don't even have all the units (theoratically, that is).
Sad story, but it sounds like you were able to enjoy the event regardless, which is the most important thing


----------



## Kreuger

That's garbage. 

You should have been rated on your actual painting, regardless of whether they forced you to proxy models in for games.

I'm sure you understand that chances are, they aren't going to photo-feature models with non-GW bits, but forcing you to proxy and then giving you a bad paint score because you had their unpainted models is pretty low.


----------



## .Bragg.

Such a beautiful and well structured army! Inspiring to say the least! + rep
Sorry if this is a daft question but why did GW react like this? I understand you're not allowed to use other companies models in these circumstances but which part were they not happy with? The shoulder pads or robes OR both? If you were to sculpt your own from scratch would they be OK with that? Thanks in advance!


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Just read all the way through this plog, stellar work on the army, i'm a big fan of themed conversion armies and it really sucks that Games workshop have to play the big bad bullyboys of wargames. If i get the hobby shop that i am aiming to open going you are more than welcome to bring your magicy marines along to any tournies we might run. 

+rep for an awesome army.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*AT LAST OPEN WAR!*
I took the Thousand Sons to Open War this weekend and they were well received by players and did surprising well given their lacking numbers and mobility. The night before the tournament I completed a little detail I’d be working on that week. 








I’ll say this; lighter colours are hard to blend, so I used the space wolf paint tutorial from a previous white dwarf and painted his armour using painted highlights instead and I made sure the pre-heresy armour was accurate. 








FULL ARMY PICTURES!
Everyone’s been asking for a full army photographs and luckily there was someone at Open War with a quality camera that took several photos of them, so here they are provided by _Andrew Moore_…






























































*ANYONE HAVE ANY AUTOCANNONS?*
I need some sentinel Autocannons for my upcoming Legio Cybernetica dreads and I can remember someone from the US saying they had some to spare. Sadly I can’t remember who it was who offered so can you please PM me if you are that person or have some Autocannons to spare?


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE 6TH FELLOWSHIP ARE INBOUND!*
With the main Thousand Sons force complete it’s time to expand and begin work on their allies first up is the Legio Cybernetica robots employed by the Legion’s 6th Fellowship and Pyrae temple. When the robots were described in the book strangely the way I pictured them was the old space crusade dreads so what better model to convert my basic dreadnoughts than a pair I got for cheap of eBay.








The plan is to replace the cylinders with two pairs of sentinel Autocannons and mount the ammo drum on the side, I had to replace the feet for purposes of basing so I’ll be adding some armour plates above the feet to cover the blank area where they slotted into the original feet and base. Again anyone have any spare autocannons please PM me.

For the smaller robots that will act as my Paladins or replace the terminators at GW events, I’ll be using a conversion from a previous army project but with imperial weaponry. I thought it best to try and increase their height using a part from a Necron destroyer but I’m worried it may look a bit thin round the waist? I’d likely be creating another mask design for these guys and it allows more posing options instead of having them all looking forward.








Here are my ideas regarding the weapons…
_*Storm Bolters;* I’ll convert those the same way I did the gauss weapons only with GK storm bolters.
*Psycannons;* 1 large cannon like weapon.
*Hammer;* Powerfists
*Sword;* I was thinking converting a blade & shield gauntlet like ones from the golden army from Hellboy 2.
*Halberd; *creating an air powered ram like the librarian dreads from the GKT special weapon arm might work._









_The robot conversion from my old renegade machine cult army._​
In the book they are described as coloured in blue and gold, at first I was tempted to paint them the same metallic metal as my former machine cult robots but metallics are very flat unless you have at least 3 different shades to paint with. So I plan to paint them up in the same blue as the chaos thousands sons in a horrific parody of what most of the legion would later become.

*Anyway I'm eager to hear any feedback regarding these conversion concepts, especially the dread?*


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## Kreuger

Very cool, looking forward to seeing these complete!


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## Midge913

Everything new that you post up just amazes me. The creativity and love you are putting into this project is truly inspiring man. Can't wait for your next post.


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## Lord Shaper

Loving what you've done with this army... you almost have me wanting to do something similar myself if I could get one tenth of the result.

I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Also where did you find the scarabs?


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*KHALOPHIS’ HEAVY HITTERS*
I decided to give up on trying to find 8 sentinel Autocannons and used the ones from the heavy weapon team instead, only this time I didn’t shorten the barrels as I wanted to make the robot look designed for long range support. I then used Ravenwing assault cannon parts to attach them to the main body. Other details include the armoured plates from the Furioso dread to cover the blank parts on the legs and grey knight apothecary bits for the scanner and searchlight. 








​
I’ve played a lot of RTS games and the concept was based off the usual cumbersome heavy walkers so I’m pleased in how it’s come out. Now I’m just worried about painting it, the problem being that some of the old dread’s details are very faint so I‘ll only really have one shot. I just wish I had one used or unwanted crusade dread to try out different shades on first!


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## Grins1878

Aome stunning work throughout the thread Grots! Well impressed!

A brilliant use of the old SC dreads too! If you need a test dread I have one here I can post to you? It'll only get ebayed, so if you want it I'll post it down to you for nowt. Be good to see how they turn out, and a test run can only improve the finished dreads!


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## shaantitus

The stunning and spectacular work continues. As for gw. What a bunch of wankers. I am glad we don't have gw sanctioned comps where i am. I like the work you are doing with the space crusade robots and the epic knights. More rep if i can. Outstanding.


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## Grins1878

Space Crusade Dread is undercoated black and drybrushed grey/white.


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## wolflordthor

I love Your Army,
Great work overall, especially the Terminators  keep on doing em!!!


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## jd579

Truly fantastic work mate, great conversions and attention to detail really gives the army a personal feel, will keep watching this with interest.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE CATAPHRACTS OF THE 7TH*
I’ve always loved robots and whilst my previous attempt to create an army of them failed I couldn’t help but want to include a unit of Khalophis’ Cataphract robots from the novel in my army.








I guess I’ll start with the main body; the first thing I did was add a joint between the epic knight titan torso and Stealthsuit legs to increase it’s height using a part of a Necron destroyer’s spine. I reused the head design from my old project using a Cadian helmet and pulse rifle tip as it adds more posing options and makes it look even less human.
The Storm bolter is the from the grey knight terminators, the original plan was to place a chapterhouse combi weapon underneath but I instead went with a grenade launcher, I also added the smaller Necron spine bit to allow me the option to rotate the weapon.
I refused to have the robot holding anything as it should be built in so I converted the sword from a lightning claw based off the golden soldier’s blades from Hellboy 2. I did cut a triangle shape from plasticard but then lost it, luckily I found a much better solution by sticking together a pair of Falchions. Lastly I added the shield to look a power generator for the weapon and a defensive shield for parrying. 
One final addition to the model was the 2nd weapon as most robots I’ve seen in the art books have a shoulder mounted weapon so I added one just for show, I’m also thinking of making a few with the weapon on standby _(bottom right of the image)._

The model will be painted using regal blue and gold as stated in the novel like the current _(traitor)_ thousand sons.

*OLD HOBBIES DIE HARD!*
Whilst I said this would be my last army I’m tempted to expand the 10 Cataphract robots and 2 dreads into a full automaton force of their own after the spire guard are completed! I’m thinking of using a Space Wolf Loganwing list mainly due to the fact the robots can have their shoulder mounted represent their 2nd combi weapon and have acute senses. I’d probably convert Captain Khalophis from Marcus Calgar to represent logan. I might even include some thousand sons squads for objective grabbers or devastator support but the focus will be on the bots.

*So what do you think to the robot and the idea of a army of them after the spire guard are completed?*


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*COMMANDER OF THE PYRAE!*
Since Mini Magnus didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped he’ll now represent Draigo. So for my grand master I’ll instead field this converted Pyrae Force Commander , I love those pyrokinetics so of course he’d have a flaming sword to count as both his nemesis weapon and incinerator for when he swings it in a wide arc at the enemy. 








​ 
If the flaming sword weren’t enough of a challenge I’m going to try and paint the robes white with perhaps either red flames on the bottom or gold symbols round the edges? Anyway it will have to wait till after the robots are painted.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

No comments at all for my commander and robots?


----------



## Hellados

I have no idea why there hasn't been any comments, I think of all the pre heresy armies i have seen your is the closest to what i have imagined. I also love the empty scarab for his sword on his belt 

I really need to read the thousand sons book now though. 

As for your love of the bots you can honestly do as you please but how individual would a squad of bots be compared to a squad of marines?


----------



## wolflordthor

Just one word.
AWESOME!!!
I really like your conversions, wish i hat that skill


----------



## Orochi

Not Keen on the Robots, but that Commander is intense.

Love the legs, I must say.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

No idea why there haven't been more comments, the robots look great, and the Grand Master is a brilliant conversion. Very dynamic. Looking forward to seeing them painted up.


----------



## Words_of_Truth

Seeing this makes me realise I'll never make as good as heresy army because this is true quality and my skills ain't up to it.

Awesome.

+rep


----------



## KjellThorngaard

I like the robo idea. I had forgotten about those from the book, but it will be a cool army on the table.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*CONQUEROR ONLINE!*
Gotta say these old models do take a long time to paint, credit to the golden daemon winners who won with old models back in the day. 
I’m very pleased with how the model came out using the chaos thousand sons paint scheme as described in the novel as a vivid blue and gold, halfway through painting the model I decided to paint the upper half gold, which makes it look less like an ultramarine robot and more a thousand sons‘. 








​ 
I was a bit worried about the blue and red clashing but I feel the gold ties the robots and thousand sons together really well.

*I’m eager to hear your thoughts on the choice in colours?*


----------



## Kreuger

Looking very slick!

Both the blue and the red are well done, but standing next to one another they do sort of look ultramarines + blood angely.

I think the blue robot could use a little more contrast or variation in color choice, but otherwise is stellar. The weathering is also looking really good.


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## Midge913

I think that they both look fantastic together. I think that that tone of red and the additional details, like the scarabs and little horns, on the Contemptor mark it out clearly as not BA. On the robot, I think the little scowling face on the end and the starburst/sun icon on the side clearly marks it as being with the rest of your army, tying it to the shoulder pads on your marines. 

Well done mate, he looks great.


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## Hellados

I love the colours, love the way the colours go together, i think the red and blue are nice and vibrant but you can still tell they are war machines.

I was looking at my old space crusade guy the other day and im amazed at what you have done with the old thing


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*ANOTHER RARE BITZ REQUEST?*
I’ve started converting my Prospero Spire Guard and I plan to make them look very regal one detail is adding top knots to the Elysian Drop Trooper helmets so far the best match is the high elf top knots.
But White Lion and Chariots heads are proving difficult to find online, so if anyone has any they can sell or donate for this project please PM me as I would be very grateful?


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*ROBOTIC FURY*
The 2nd Conqueror robot is now complete, I decided to pose the legs on the 2nd one to make it look different from the 1st. Now all is left is to reequip 1 of my existing dreadnoughts.








*A DEFENDER OF TIZCA *
With the robots done for the moment it’s time to move onto the 2nd ally of the Thousand Sons the Prospero Spire Guard. As I mentioned before I wanted to create something regal looking but practical and I believe I’ve hit that target with this guy.








I was worried about the top knot at first but it works well with all the other details, however finding that many high elf top knots will prove the larger problem. The ceremonial sword was going to be at the side but it was hard to place on and see due to the gun so I mounted it on the back. Speaking of which they were to be armed with Lasguns then I found out henchmen are armed with a laspistol and close combat weapon and can't be given lasguns so I armed them with boltguns instead, using some bits from an interceptor backpack and the clip of an old bolter to convert the lasgun into an assault rifle.

The robes will be red, the armour gold and the top knot bleached bone however I’m unsure what colour to use for the visor, suggestions?

The squad I’m building at the moment is a long range support squad and includes 3 plasma cannon servitors which I’m converting automated mobile defence turrets for which are controlled remotely. I still have a few more details to add which you will see when the full squad is completed.
*
6TH EDITION ALLIES AND FORTIFICATIONS = POSSIBILTIES*
After seeing this link I’m eager to read the new rules not only will I be able to field basic marines in alongside my psychic thousand sons but will also be able to use the Cataphract robots as something more suitable than paladins such as wolf guard terminators who have acute senses, fearless and combi weapons and are not psychic.

I’m not sure about the idea of taking fortifications in an army, thou I might be tempted to convert some transparent kin-shield walls?


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Cunning use of an epic Land raider


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*7TH EDITION LOOK TO YOUR BATTLE BROTHERS*
I picked the Grey Knight codex for the psychic marines but also for the ability to field the Prospero spire guard alongside them, now with the new 40k allies rules I can actually field standard marines alongside my Scarab Occult Terminators

I’m looking at taking a Librarian, tactical and devastator squad for my allied force, thou I’ll likely to use different codexes to access special units. I’ll use the Space Wolf codex _(snarl of hatred)_ to use the Wolf Guard terminators for their combi-weapons and acute senses when I want to field my Cataphract robots, or maybe the blood angels in order to use Librarian Mephiston who is the best HQ to represent the Primarch_ "Mini magnus"_. 








I did think of modelling basic marines with a white trim and detailing like the basic troopers in the image above from the art book to make them stand out as the allies. But I decided to stick with the look of the marines I converted for my interceptors as the gold ties all the different factions of the Prospero army together, that and I prefer the Egyptian and mystical feel the gold gives.








However for the moment I want to focus on the Prospero Spire Guard as it is possible allies will be banned from most tournaments and that my terminators (my troop choices) are banned from GW events so I need someone to replace them.


----------



## Hellados

For such a cool plog I think you should definitely do the gold, be careful that Mephiston is lacking an invulnerable save and is susceptible to insta death from force weapons as my friends love to remind me


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*PROSPERO SPIRE GUARD REINFORCEMENTS*
Well I’ve completed my Prospero Spire Guard Heavy Support squad, made up of 8 warrior henchmen with boltguns and 3 Plasma Cannon servitors represented by the A.M.T.s _(Automated, Mobile Turrets)_. This unit is bound to do a lot more damage than my Vindcare assassin who while he can hit, rarely makes kills and pays for his points so he’s being replaced with this squad and my basic Inquisitor (Hidden One Agent).








The turrets were converted based on a tutorial I found on the web for a sentry gun but I mounted it on an epic land raider instead of a heavy weapon platform to better represent its ability to still move after all the guardsmen have been wiped out. 

*THE COLORS OF THE SPIRE GUARD*
While building the support squad I painted up the first Spire Guardsmen and while I’m very happy with the gold and red I’m unsure about the top knot. Hair is still one thing I’ve yet to master, but since this is only the first model I’ll wait and see how the others come out before deciding if I should snap the top knots off or not. 








*We’ll see as for now I’m eagerly awaiting my store’s midnight release for 6th edition!*


----------



## Marneus Calgar

This project log has been a joy to look through, the models are superb and the conversions are brilliant. +Rep!


----------



## Words_of_Truth

Where did you get the basing rocks for that large picture of the guardsman, I'm trying to think of a good way to get basing for my heresy imperial fists and want it to mimic Terra or something.


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## folketsfiende

Kolonel Grotsnik said:


> *PROSPERO SPIRE GUARD REINFORCEMENTS*


Great conversions and bits use. It looks really natural, and you've painted it well. Full of flavour!


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE ARMY’S COMMANDER PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE?*
Whilst working on updating my dread and painting the spire guard I decided to do a few things regarding the army’s HQ.

*Mini-Magnus*
I was quite pleased when I completed this model but the fact is while he looks fantastic next to the more colourful troops he looks rather dull and that’s something a commander should never be.








I doubt I’ll use him in future now with all the possibilities the new allies rules have opened up. So after I’ve completed the Pyrae commander I will be putting Mini-Magnus up for sale.
*So if anyone is interested in buying Mini-Magnus please PM me.*

*Pyrae Commander*
Still a great looking model I look forward to using him now as a Librarian with Pyromancy abilities from the new rulebook. I’m even considering making commanders for the Corvidae _(Divination)_ & Raptora_ (Telekinesis)_, sadly no Athanaeans _(Telepaths)_ or Pavoni_ (Biomancers)_ thou. But rather than painting 3 white robes_ 'shudder'_ maybe make the upper body exchangeable.








After I complete the spire guard squad I’m going to have a 2nd attempt at painting those robes white, can't think of a better alternative than purple and I want him to stand out.

*A Mystic Juggernaut?*
With the new allies rules, I’m able to field my Cataphract robots as Wolf Guard terminators using the combi-weapons to better justify the shoulder mounted weapon. So I got to thinking about a possible Logan proxy so I can field him and two squads of robots as allies. While looking I found this dude and I must say with a few egyptian details, scripture and new weapons (maybe a crystal hammer) he could look the part?








*What do you think?*


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## Dînadan

Sounds like a nice idea for a conversion.


Must say I do find the idea of using SWs to represent an element of a Sons' Army slightly ammusing (even if it isn't actually the Sons themselves who you're fielding them as, which would be even more amusing).


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE ROAR OF PROSPERO SPIRE GUARD’S CANNONS*
It has taken a long time but I finally completed my Prospero Spire Guard’s heavy weapon teams that will be fielded as a henchmen squad with 6 warriors with boltguns, 3 plasma cannons servitors and my Hidden One Agent Inquisitor. I might be making some alternative weapons for the ‘Firestorms’ turrets most likely a missile launcher in case I wish to field them as Imperial Guard allies instead of henchmen.

​ 
Here's a few images of the turret from different angles, I had to go back and add a bit more red and gold to the top part of the weapon as most of it was painted black to the point it didn’t seem to match up with the lower half.

​ 
Now I’m going to begin work on the mid-field Spire Guard units backed up by my Mechanicus Mastermind bots. But first I want to get the commander painted up but like before the white is proving to be a challenge! I’m also made an adjustments to the Cataphract robot based on the biggest focus point of the critique received which you might see in my next post if the bits arrive in time.


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## Lethiathan

is that an epic landraider with a plasma cannon mounted to it =-)


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*ZUL AZADAR; COMMANDER OF THE PYRAE!*
I swiftly made plans to make a new commander model soon after the completion of Mini-Magnus not just because of his dull contrast to the basic troops but also because I couldn‘t use him in those few generous GW stores that allowed me to use my terminators which is understandable. So I give you my Pyrae Commander...








I had to change the robes because after 3 attempts the one I had intended to use was ruined. The sword also took a lot of time, thou I had to repaint it when I got the shades the wrong way round the first time. 
I plan to place a Space Wolf shield on the base that’s been burned through with a heat beam on the pillar in front of him, but that will have to wait till I can find the time to also repaint the dying space wolf from my terminators to the darker pre-heresy scheme.

As for now it’s back to the spire guard, also the plasma cannon squad worked wonders in their first game this week better than 1 Vindicare for sure.


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## Unforgiven302

Wonderful work creating this army. Each and every model is inspiring and creative! Such beautiful eye candy! Here is a heap of +rep!


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## Hellados

not enough superlatives, that is all :wink:


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## wolflordthor

I dont know what to say, but your army is a great inspiration for me.
I have many armys since a year as i started, but no army has reached a real play status if you know what i mean.
But your pre-heresy army shows me what awesomeness is!!!
Keep it on!


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## wolflordthor

A quick question Colonel....
Which parts did you use for your awesome Pyrae commander?
I know its sad but i want to start an army of Tsons in pre-eresy era and got inspired by you...
Could you make a list or something like that which parts you used?


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## Midge913

Nice work man! I think the flaming sword came out fantastic. My only bit of complaint, a very minor one, is that the purple scarab on the front is rather dull and muted. After seeing some of the brighter purples that have shown up on other models in this army, it just seems to be lacking brightness and contrast. All in all a wonderful addition to the army!


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*MY WARLORD TRAIT AND PSYCHIC CARDS*
After playing a few games of sixth edition I had trouble remembering my Warlord’s traits and psychic powers. So rather than pay £12 for the oversized GW ones or refering to the rulebook constantly I made my own sets for Personal Warlord traits, Pyromancy and Divination using some magic card templates and artwork from the web. 








The artwork for the Warlord and Divination cards are from the Horus Heresy art books whilst the Pyromancy one is off Deviantart and can be found HERE!


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*FORCES OF PROSPERO CODEX COVER!*
In previous projects I’ve often commissioned an artist to create a kind of codex cover for the army and with tournament season coming up I thought it was time the Thousand Sons got one featuring some of the armies best units such as the spire guard and terminators.

I was pleased to find an artist called Noldofinve on Deviantart who was interested in creating a codex cover for me, a few days ago she sent me this rough sketch. Needless to say I can’t wait to see the finished piece given the quality of her other 40k artwork!









_Drawn by Beata Kurkul_​


----------



## Regnear67

great work keep it up heres some +rep


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## wolflordthor

Nice Artwork!!!!


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## Spawner105

Amazing stuff your conversion skills and painting are very impressive.


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## Mr.Malevolent

Still in awe at this thread.
Loving the custom cards!


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

Well since I'm finally able to login to Heresy Online again, where was I...

*MUSTER THE SPIRE GUARD!*
Aside from Psychic marines the Grey Knight codex had one large benefit which was the ability to field human units aside Astartes (before 6th edition) and after three weeks of work the first Spire Guard strike team is complete. In game it is a henchmen squad consisting of 4 warriors with Boltguns and 5 warriors with carapace armour _(the riot shields)_ with 2 Boltguns and 3 Plasma guns.








I created the Plasma Carbine weapons using guard flamers and a plasma pistol which are easy items to come across instead of buying the actual Plasmaguns themselves.








*THE GUARD COMMANDER*
Since I’m using the henchmen squads for the Prospero Spire Guard I need to field Inquisitor Coteaz so I’ve converted the finecast Inquisitor to represent him as a general. First he was holding the hammer in his left hand which looked silly given how much it likely weights so I changed it to the other hand and gave him a heroic like pose with the hammer facing down, that was till I got this comment...



Kreuger said:


> . . . he ends up looking like he's trying heroically . . . to play croquet.


After which I changed the pose immediately! I also later added in a steel scorpion, another conversion from my previous Machine Cult army to represent his cyber eagle or even a servo skull if I ever choose to use one.


----------



## Kreuger

Looking stellar as always!

I think there's something missing from the scorprion, but I'm not sure what. In the photo it looked backwards until I read the description that it was a scorpion. It is otherwise a lovely use of what I assume is a necron torso. I think it might need something else on the 'front' end to make it look more 'front', more of a face or if it had been built with pincers that would have helped as well.


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## Midge913

Wonderful additions man! Love the inquisitor conversion with his scorpion.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE ZANATORIAN LEGACY*
I've been frantically finishing the last few models for the Prospero Spire Guard faction of my pre-heresy Thousand Sons Army in time for the Open War tournament yesterday. The first two models was my Jokaero Weaponsmiths for my henchmen squads, however instead of monkeys I used an old conversion concept from my previous Zanatorian Machine Cult Project hence the name 'Zanatorian Weaponsmith'.








Created using a tau stealthsuit torso, servo skull, tesla coils _(from battle of macragge) _and some guitar wire. Like the psychic powers and warlord traits I also created smaller cards for the Weaponsmith modifications that effect the unit he is in, on a roll of a 1 nothing happens but on a 6 I get to re-roll on the table twice. 








After their completion they were attached to the spire guard squads which have so far performed alright in the 4 games they have taken part in.


----------



## Xabre

Such amazing work. I'm a huge Thousand Sons fanatic, so this whole thing is just... amazing. I'm jealous I can't even pretend to come close to this level of amazing.


----------



## Midge913

Again, wonderful conversion work on the weaponsmith model. I am continually impressed with the quality of your work man.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*BEGIN THE ACTIVATION RITES!*
Well the Spire Guard's performance overall has been interesting but the list seems more friendly than competitive, hopefully that won't be a problem at Throne Of Skulls in January as I've heard it's not as competitive as it used to be. But before that I have a Kill Team to prepare for Operation Protineus next month and I've have chosen to field a unit of Cataphract Robots which were used by the Pyrae Cult during the Great Crusade that way I can also use them in my thousand sons army as allies. 

However because this is a Kill Team I can't just have robots so I need someone to lead them and who better than a Techmarine. I decided not to give him a servo hardness as he will never be used as a techmarine, he will be either another wolf guard terminator or a rune priest with Divination to represent him increasing the robot's effectiveness and to fill out the allied HQ slot.








One of the rules of a Kill Team game is the option to give any special rule from the rulebook to 3 models such as the Techmarine leader who will either have FNP or Shrouding to increase he survivability. I've used the others to convert some devastating loadouts on two of my robots...








*'Golem Loadout'*
The one on the right has a Frost Blade with the special rule 'Smash' giving me a strength 5 ap 2 I4 weapon allowing me to deal with 2+ armoured targets or 'Smash' anyone who brings a tank. For him I converted two power gauntlets which makes him look very menacing, however not as much as the one on the left.

*'Firestorm Loadout'*
The robot on the left has a combi-melta which I have given the 'Torrent' special rule (yes this is legal) so I added a shoulder mounted flamer for the bolter's template, but best of all I converted this awesomely destructive weapon I call 'The Firestorm Cannon' which destroys everything is fires upon however it suffers from a long recharge time so it can only be fired once per game (i.e the metlagun's torrent shot). I feel he'll be a big bullet magnet because of this.

Now to begin painting them up in the blue and gold paint scheme.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*FORCES OF PROSPERO CODEX COVER UPDATE!*
In previous projects I’ve often commissioned an artist to create a kind of codex cover for the army and with Throne Of Skulls coming up I thought it was time the Thousand Sons got one featuring some of the armies best units such as the spire guard and terminators.

I was pleased to find an artist called Noldofinve on Deviantart who agreed to create a codex cover for me, she sent me this rough sketch a few weeks back and has just sent me a work in progress image of the cover. Needless to say I can’t wait to see the finished piece given the quality of her other 40k artwork.


----------



## Hellados

Very nice with the colours there, I like how it pulls your eye around the picture too.

The guy at the front left is surprisingly small compared to the others isn't it??


----------



## ckcrawford

This thread is full of awesomeness. I can't even begin. Good job, you should try out for some of the competetions.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*A FINE WARMACHINE*
At first I tried to paint all 4 robots together as I have only a few weeks before the Kill Team tournament, but since this was my first time painting them I decided to complete one first and see how it worked. And here is the completed robot...








The head was originally blue but it blended too much with the torso so I tried painting it in gold instead which worked a lot better. The trickiest part was the energy cell on the combat weapon. 
Someone did make the observation that it looks like a Cygnar Warjack from Warmachine, which was made even more amusing due the the fact they'll be 4 of them lead by a techmarine.

Either way I'm very pleased with the final model and just wished I could include more than a squad of 5 in the army. Now to complete the remaining 4 by the end of the month.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*KILL TEAM REPORT*
Saturday was a lot of fun it was very fast paced and the games went well aside from one round against 3 flamers and 4 Screamers of Tzeentch to add insult to injury 2 of my bots died from plasma overheats, best game was fighting 15 sisters of battle through a hail of bolter fire with smashbot being somewhat of an unstoppable Juggernaut. Here a pic of the bots in action against a tyranid warrior kill team off facebook, also because of the event being 10 days away from Xmas my Xmas Squig conversion got some use as an objective for all 8 games. 

















For the next one in April I'll be taking a break from the Thousand Sons to assemble The Outcast Dead as my next Kill Team theme after Throne Of Skulls.

*RALLY THE DEFENCES!*
Defense line is fully built now to paint it. I'm thinking white with gold trim to match the city of Tizca and contrast a little with the red of the spire guard what do you think?


----------



## Khorne's Fist

A well deserved award. This has turned into one of the best plogs in here, and that's saying something.


----------



## Hellados

Very well deserved reward, I love how all of your custom models look like they fit together


----------



## Words_of_Truth

Congratulations 

Could you give any pointers on converting Cataphracts? Also are you using homebrew rules for them or are you basing them on something in the FW book or elsewhere?


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*MAN THE DEFENCES!*
Well with Throne Of Skulls 1 day away everything is now complete, first off is the defence line which I'm glad I chose white (based off of their City Of Light) cause I didn't have to do any real painting for the base after spraying the white basecoat from an angle. The gold trim thou was a right pain and I found myself painting 1 section each evening before adding the battle damage and scorch marks.








Should help keep my Spire Guard alive instead of them cowering in terran.

*THE SCARAB OCCULT MARCH!*
Now as you all know GW disapproves of my major use of non-gw parts on my terminators at GW events which makes sense, so I needed some suitable alternatives for Warhammer World events. It was originally going to be the robots but then Forgeworld released their pre-heresy terminators and I wanted a squad to convert and here they are...








Aside from the same weapon conversions of my previous terminators I added details such as the jewel scarab and horse hair plume to make them look similar to the terminators featured in this piece of artwork with the Primarch. 








I might make another squad for larger GW events and to have the option of fielding 25 Grey Knight Terminators till then I'm likely to use these guys as a sort of Command Bodyguard for Corteaz and my upcoming Librarian conversion. 
*I'm curious to know which terminator variant do you like these ones or my robed conversions?*


----------



## wolflordthor

Really glad to see a new post, these FW cataphractii came out very well, but the defense wall... This thing is absolutely like I would imagine a wall in Tizca, truly beautiful!!!!


----------



## The Wraithlord

BAD FUCKING ASS!!!!!! Just so sweet.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THRONE OF SKULLS REPORT!*
Sadly I was unable to make a very competitive list with the models available so I took my friendly list relying on the ladder system to balance it out, but they've dropped it for an all random system which forced my not so competitive list to stuggle. Not to mention I was plagued by bad luck on Saturday.

*Game 1 Vs Necrons *(Lots or Warriors, Lords and a Monolith) Close lost but a lot of fun.
*Game 2 Vs Necron (Barges and Long Ranged stuff + Doomsythe)* Masscared, shot me up from a distance and plagued by bad luck rolling double 1 for a point blank melta shot on the flyer!
*Game 3 Vs Grey Knights:* Once again bad dice rolls but nearly grabbed victory periled my terminators and interceptors with psyshock missile from his storm raven.
*Game 4 Vs Grey Knights: (20 Terminators, 2 Dreads and Inquisitor) * Won thanks to my plasma cannons, dude wouldn't walk his terminators into range which allowed me to weather him down from a distance. Good Game!
*Game 5 Vs New Dark Angels (with Bellal and Knights): *Tabled Victory thanks to Coteaz and his Dividnation powers ie forced re-rolling of saves, new terminators are very nasty thou.









_Game 4 with a strong defensive line and Plasma Cannons on the high ground nasty!_​
Problem is there is no ladder system anymore, it's all randomly drawn so I was fighting players with all wins on GAME 2,3 & 4. They said it was dropped so they can avoid arguments amongst very VERY competitive players on the top tables. 
They should at least have a top and bottom half otherwise you need to have a very competitive list in case you dealt against a skilled opponents.

My army was nominated for Best Army and competition was tough as there was no real clear winner as every army was getting a lot of attention, but in the end character and bizzare appearance won it for the 'Mexican Orks' 








*A BREAK FROM THE FORGES OF PROSPERO*
With Throne Of Skulls now done I was tempted to begin work on the 2nd Expansion consisting of... 

A Sorcerer _(Rune Priest),_
Pyrae Robots in Drop Pod _(Wolf Guard Terminators),_
Recon Squad_ (5 Grey Hunters),_
5 Devastators _(Long Fangs),_
& maybe some Land Speeders_ (FW Jetbikes)_

But with two different variants of the army to play I've decided to take a short break from my thousand sons for a while, I'll instead be focusing on my other project The Grot Rebellion  who have been out of action since 6th edition. I'll likely be repainting or at least redoing some of the details on the existing units with what I've learned during this project, I'll post a link on this thread when I start the new log.

But do keep an eye on this log as I will be uploading small editions to the Thousand Sons whilst working on the grots. Till then check out the army's completed codex cover by Beata Kurkul


----------



## .Bragg.

Oh yeah, congratulations with your codex cover; one fantastic commission.


----------



## humakt

I loved your army at Throne of Skulls. Personally it was between yours and the Tyranid army. I hope you will take this army to another throne of skulls so I have a chance of playing against it.


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## Hellados

very nice mate, sorry to see you taking a break but its best not to burn yourself out


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*GROTZ OR BOTS?*
As mentioned in the previous post the plan was to leave the Thousand Sons project for a while and redo my Grot Rebel Army. But thanks to a recent newsletter from Forgeworld I’m thinking of doing just a bit more for this project and it’s all thanks to these miniatures...







 
I saw these and instantly thought Legio Cybernetica Robots representing Battlesuits, what made this even more tempting was the fact broadsides are now dreadnought sized and I already have 2 robots that with a weapon refit could be suited for such a role!







 
I can’t really put much more thought into the tau/legio cybernetica allies until I see the codex on Saturday since White Dwarf being the picture book it is has no real game based info about the new tau. 
Also right now the army is being plagued by flyers as I only have the defence line to really defend against them and at competitive tournaments they tend to be widely used. If the rumour is true that broadsides will have skyfire then this could be the edge I need to defend against them for Throne Of Skulls in June.

But at the same time I want to get the grots back on the board by getting the new infantry converted up and tanks repainted plus the creation of the ork cybork slaves the “Ork Botz”.

*So what do you think to the legio cybernetica allies using the new Tau Codex?*
*& which would you like to see me do Grotz Or Botz?*


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*BOTS BEFORE GROTS!*
So the new Tau codex has convinced me to hold off work on my Grot rebelz Project and return to this project to create some Legio Cybernetica Battlesuits using the new forgeworld robots.

Each of the allied Battlesuit squad will be armed with a twin-linked fusion blaster and a missile pod to make them the excellent at taking out heavy armour. So I'm thinking of converting the main weapon by adding two barrels from the FW meltagun, I likely extend the lower barrel out a bit more. The alternative would be attaching a meltagun to each arm but I feel the rifle represents the extended range of 18 a lot better. As for the missile pod I'll scratch build a missile launcher and attach into the back with a robotic arm. 










I'll likely be going with missile broadsides so the old robo dreads will be getting armed with a lot of rocket launchers and I'll be converting some missile drones to go with them. As for the the Fire Warriors, I'm thinking a more elite or heavy version of the Spire Guard. I'm thinking of space scout bodies but a bit more flashy with the drop trooper helms or perhaps give them armour like the hidden one agent.

*I tried out the two ideas for the converted battlesuits using photoshop please let me know what you think to the conversion ideas? 
Also if you have any suggestions for converting Spire Guard Fire Warriors?*


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

*REMEMBERING THE THOUSAND SONS!*
As I wrote out my new list with the Tau Allies yesterday I realized something, nearly all of my lists are focused on the Spire Guard and now the Automotons, I have very few Thousand Sons units in the army so rather then building more robots I've decided to focus on converting some more thousand sons units.

When I started this project I had the idea for a Dreadknight proxy of a Thousand Sons; a sorcerer with a large Tutelary (like the one below and maybe even the large eagle from the upcoming high elves) unleashing the full force of his psychic powers. Aside from the big familiar I'll likely convert some base details such as a few floating rocks or scorched SW corpses.








I'm thinking of working on this model since I still have the parts, but first I want to hear what your thoughts are about this proxy concept from a gaming standpoint. 
*Do you think it works or is is too much?*

*OUT WITH THE OLD*
With Maelstrom games being closed down, Warhammer World is now my only real gaming/tournament venue, where sadly my large terminators can't be used. Because of this rather than have them kicking around doing nothing I'm likely going to be putting 1 or 2 squads up for sale in the next month and instead convert some more forgeworld ones and use the remaining first converted terminators as Paladins. 

*So would anyone be interested in buying some of the old Scarab Occult Terminators?*


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*ANTI-AIR DEFENCES*
Flyers have been the bane of my Thousand Sons Grey Knight army so I've finally got round to converting up a quad gun for my defence line. Rather than going with Autocannons I decided to go with the more traditional form of anti-air; a missile turret to represent my quad gun.








I used parts from the land raider, sentinel, leman russ and a baneblade sponson plate in the conversion. I may try and extend it's height with a platform or raised base as it is a bit low for a quad gun.


----------



## Hellados

Oh my! You bet I am stealing that idea!

I love this plog so much!


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Excellent take on the AA system.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*UNSTOPPABLE FORCE!*
Back when I started this project I had the idea for a Dreadknight proxy of a Thousand Sons sorcerer with a large Tutelary unleashing the full force of his psychic powers. Because in the Horus Heresy novels when a Thousand Sons sorcerer lets lose his full powers whole squads of enemies are killed with ease often crushed or burnt and unable to do them any real damage in return.

The idea for this conversion came from an Anime Series where a character could summon a gigantic, humanoid being that surrounds him.








Recently I've been tweaking with my Dreadknight conversion and with most of the parts finally here I'm likely to begin assembly sometime this week. However it maybe sometime before the model is completed so here is a blu-taced rough version.








The commander on the base will be converted up similar to the first Thousand Sons commander I made but this time in Power Armour and made with all GW parts. The Dreadknight tutelary is armed with a shield using the tzeentch disc and a sword from the daemon prince, I would have loved for it to have been the balrog's flame sword to match the one the commander will wield but cheap plastic Balrogs or at least the sword is impossible to find. I may alter the dreadknight's helmet to match the commander's as if he is a large psychic projection of the commander in the warp? 
I'm thinking of adding a green stuff cape on the tutelary to hide the hollow lower back torso, I also need to decide to use a clear flying stand or mount something large onto the circle on the rear of the base and pin him to it?
As you can see I have a dead space wolf terminator on the base, I wanted a burnt out wolf corpse as well but have had no luck finding a single vampire counts dire wolf to use,* anyone got a spare dire wolfie who needs a good home? *

*Anyway what do you think?*


----------



## Mighty

I think your idea of using a giant Tutelary as your proxy for a Dreadknight is a brilliant idea. Kudos to your creative vision! Very much looking forward to see the completed model


----------



## Chaosftw

This stuff is brilliant! I love the AA system! is that a dead upper torso you used for the base?! excellent use of a dread if I do say so myself!

Whats next??


----------



## neferhet

Astounding.
+rep


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*GETTING BACK TO WORK *
Sorry for the lack of updates I've been working on a Steampunk gauntlet for an expo I attended on Saturday, I maybe upload a photo for you lot to see. Anyway with that out the way I can get back to working on my commander and his large tutelary dreadknight for Throne Of Skulls next month, which you can see below is coming on quite nicely. Base is still crying out for a burnt wolf, anyone got a spare plastic dire wolf?


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Very dramatic.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*COMMANDER ZUL'AZADAR OF THE 6TH FELLOWSHIP*
Since my old commander can't be used in non GW tournaments I decided to make this new version. Also no Thousand Sons Captain or sorcerer wears terminator armour in the art books or the novel, not even Ahriman of the 1st so I decided to also go with artificer armour for this version. 








Like the last one this model will represent my Grand Master but for most games he'll likely be on the Dreadknight base channeling his power through his massive tutlary. By the what do you think to the purple scarab detail? Does it work on this model or do you think it would look better in gold?

All that is needed to complete the Dreadknight now is the dead space puppies on the base!


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

I did not really register the scarab until you asked, so - assuming it is not just the photograph - I feel it needs more contrast; there is already plenty of gold, so moving the purple further toward blue might keep the variation and add differentiation.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

*THE LITTLE THINGS*
I needed to create a Spire Guard armed with a lasgun for my new list who would most likely be manning the defence quad turret so I converted this Spire Guard Combat Engineer.
I also realized I didn't have a objective for 'Relic' missions so I created this large magic tome. 








*THE PROJECT'S GRAND FINALE*
Well I'm done for this project for now but what better way to finish off the Thousand Sons but with this awesome looking Dreadknight Proxy of a Thousand Sons Commander with a powerful Tutelary familiar.








I did experiment with the idea of adding some blue lighting effects for the Tutelary but it's very difficult to make work on red armour and the ruins, the glow effect from the sword however came out perfectly. 
The Tutelary is pinned to the ruin using a clear flying base so he's very far forward from the pillar and thanks to the positioning of the arms and shield you can't see it unless from looking at it from a certain angle. Of course I enjoyed adding the Space Wolves especially the one with the burnt face.

I'll be entering him into the 'Throne Of Skulls' monster miniature contest next Saturday.

*WHAT NEXT FOR THE 15TH LEGION?*
I'll be taking a break from the Thousand Sons to work on my Grot Rebels, but after they're up to date I'll be returning to convert my Cybernetica robots into Broadsides and creating Spire Guard shock troops for Fire Warriors. Also I may add a few more Thousand Sons infantry units and a another commander like model for use as a Librarian.
Of course if I'm able to get a hold of a decent full army picture I'll post it up on this log, till then!

*“FOR THE CRIMSON KING!!!”*


----------



## Deneris

Amazing... :shok:

Could you take some close-ups of the dead Puppies on the base?


----------



## Ddraig Cymry

Very nice! Can't wait to see them all together.


----------



## Kolonel Grotsnik

Deneris said:


> Amazing... :shok:
> 
> Could you take some close-ups of the dead Puppies on the base?


Thought someone might ask for such a photo and here it is...


----------



## Jacobite

Kolonel Grotsnik said:


> *COMMANDER ZUL'AZADAR OF THE 6TH FELLOWSHIP*
> 
> Like the last one this model will represent my Grand Master but for most games he'll likely be on the Dreadknight base channeling his power through his massive tutlary. By the what do you think to the purple scarab detail? Does it work on this model or do you think it would look better in gold?


First of all that Tutlary is stunning, absolutely awesome! How have you done the blue on it?

I'm into two minds about the scarab, technically it looks great but it does just seem to get lost in the mini some how. Maybe gold with a little OSL?


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## alasdair

Fantastic finish to a fantastic project! I demand a full army shot!


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## CommandPoint

*Thanks for sharing*

Wow - what a great thread. Stayed up late last night appreciating this, spent the best part of my Saturday to get to the end of the thread ~ Thank you for sharing each step.

It's really great to see the conversion work and the painted finish, and as someone who's been out of the game for many years I appreciate the detailed description of which pieces you've used from which kit. I used to own all the mail order catalogs and knew all the parts and loved seeing new releases to see what I could use from them. Being able to look and identify the pieces used has always been a great joy of mine  but 15 years of absence leaves me blind to what I am looking at when it comes to conversion works, lots to learn. 

Fantastic work here throughout, not just in the converting and the painting even though converting is something I am a huge fan of ~ more so than painting or playing ~ but also in bringing together a great army full of flavour and delights 

I love the idea of using fluff and history to add to your army both by using "counts as" and allies.

The visual side to 40k has always interested my the most so I wouldn't consider using units / allies that I don't like the look of, so the idea of using "counts as" and making a unit from fluff / history to represent that unit is pretty exciting. 

The whole concept of using a "counts as" army completely opens up the possibility (for me anyway) of using rules / armies I'd never considered because I didn't like the look of the figure / army.

I've got plenty to think about, thank you.


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

Thanks Command Point

Sadly this army is currently in storage as I just can't get the drive to update them with the new Grey Knights codex which I find very bland and lacking in variety. Nor can I think of another interesting codex to use, but instead of selling them I'll wait for their full forgeworld release and use those rules instead.

My current project and main army is my 3rd version of my Grot Rebel themed guard army, you can read a blog version of find their project log thread here!


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## R_Squared

I have to bookmark this, You've done a top notch job on these 1000 sons, but I especially enjoyed the rebel Grots. Great Stuff. :good:


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## CommandPoint

Thanks for the re-link, Kolonel Grotsnik. As I was progressing through your thread I did open up the Rebel Grot link in a new Tab, but once done drooling over your TSons I discovered I'd actually opened up just a Grot picture and not the actual project link, which was now buried deep in the TSons project :scratchhead:

I'm starting to think about what could be a good army to base a "counts as" Genestealer Cult on, would you happen to have any good suggestions?

I currently play Dark Angels, and plan to do a "fluff based" successor chapter for them which will be "counts as" Ultra Marines so I can get and use all the things that DA's don't get. I might even make thes my main army and use the DA as Wing allies. I also have some Sisters, and Inquisitors figures that I hope to use as 500pt Ally blocks. I also have Eldar.

These are the only armies I am familiar with, or have played so find myself a little stumped as to what any other army could do for a GC army.

Thanks for the prompt response, and the re-link.
I shall check it out tomorrow when rested (project threads always leave me with a bad back, and missing time!)

[Edit:] My apologies if this is off topic, please feel free to PM me


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## Kolonel Grotsnik

Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I'm looking to reboot my Thousand Sons in the more iconic metallic red. As such some of the models and bases seen on this log are now for sale in the Trading area. *You can find them here!*


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