Thursday 30 March 2017




Mysteries abound in the Age of Darkness. So many personnel files consigned to magenta level secrecy codes, wholesale data purging during our current age, and so much simply left unrecorded in the desolation of the Empire in deep space. 

The origins of the Epistolary ['Revelation'] is an enigma in a time of fractured truths. A minor figure in the Heresy his later involvement in the fall of Gairados and similarities between the Auric Tyrant has made him a figure of interest to Inquisition kill claves.  

Explorator fleet 133 took possession of the somnolent 'Revelation' in the aftermath of the Taakan Reeva campign. The 344th Iron Hands exploratory fleet encountered a dead Hulk, or more accurately several dead space craft of unknown and imperial origin orbiting one another in installer space. A Blood Angel strike cruiser was found admits the wreckage, containing several dozen life support sarcophagi unique to the IXth. 

It is unclear whether this is a Libraian of the IXth, his embellished armour reflecting some Word Bearer iconography. It is known that he served alongside the 133rd and survived the Siege, later galvanising shattered traitor elements...[REDACTED]...








This is the librarian of my burgeoning Blood Angel Heresy collection. It's starting to look somewhat like an army now! From the outset I knew I wanted a Librarian for my force. The Blood Angels were one of the founding Legions of the Librarius program (indeed, it turns out much of the initial lore used to teach the legions Librarians was gleaned from the repositories of Baal - see Inferno). 

I did however want something different from the usual blue armoured marines. In this time, to wield psychic powers was in direct violation of the Edict of Nikkea. I wanted this Librarian to look like the choice to wield his powers again had cost him. It made sense to me to include a recidivist element within the make up of the miniature. I used Erebus as the base - the images of purgatory, books hinting at forbidden knowledge and the sculpt made it a perfect for what I wanted. 

I went with a singular paint scheme in mind - I wanted this to be an old, faded, desaturated gold with patina streaks for tears. I feel the I've had to sacrifice the readability of the model somewhat to generate atmosphere. In the end it looked like a Klimt painted by Egon Schiele - something I'm immensely proud of. 

The back story of this guy evolved from the conversion. His armour didn't always look like this. During a vicious space battle, his strike cruiser was rendered inoperative, so the Blood Angels do what space vampires do and retired to their sarcophagi (early fluff taken from Angels of Darkness). During the decades in the void, the Librarian's latent, subconcious powers empelled him to prey on his brothers, dreaming their dreams, borrowing into their souls. In a kind of weird psychic vampirism,  he killed them to sustain himself. His armour is a warped reflection of the Purgatory he has made for  himself. The revelations of his kinsmen scratched into his armour in Angelic script. 

I imagine this character would survive the Siege and go on to found some kind of Astartes Death Cult, rounding shattered elements of any legion who would follow his banner. 

Would you like to convert something like this?


Tuesday 28 March 2017



For the honoured first! Like the Blood Angels I cannot wait for a 1st Legion decal sheet to be released. I just hope that they will have Dreadwing details. 



Sunday 26 March 2017













Amongst the choirs of the 9th, the Exousiai were a caste of Assault Marines known to exemplify the high intensity warfare practiced throughout the legion. Squad Ahdriel (thus Exousiai Ahdriel) were a band of Assault marines honoured with the role of Lamenter. When Blood Angel lives are lost in the service of the great crusade an honour guard is left stationed at that world. These Lamenters were spread across the breadth of the galaxy by the time civil war broke out, a resource the scattered IXth could not ignore. 

Lamenter Ahdriel was a morbid presence within the ranks of the IXth, made ever more bitter by Horus' betrayal. This Choir of Exousiai was rescued by the 133rd, tracking a larger Iron Warrior munition fleet.

The Heresy war took a heavy toll on the Exousiai, equipped as they were for xenos and light infantry purgation protocols. They found themselves woefully ill equipped to tackle Legion forces and suffered a high attrition rate throughout the rebellion. Archive photographs shows us varied range of armour marks throughout Exousiai Arcellus with battlefield scouring of the dead being a common practice to replace damaged equipment. 

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Would you like to paint red like this? 




Friday 24 March 2017








I decided to take a walk around the colour wheel with this model. The client sent a wonderful picture of a kingfisher in mid flight, with a plumage that ran the course from purple to yellow. It is easy to confuse the eye when using multiple colours on a piece, following the example found in nature gave a reassuring skeleton to the paint job that I could build on. 

If you would like to learn more about applying colour theory to a model why not get private tutelage? 





Thursday 23 March 2017




Judicators painted in a midnight blue scheme. 

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Tuesday 21 March 2017









An alternative version of Geri, commission piece. 

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Sunday 19 March 2017




Listen closely Brothers, for my life's breath is all but spent. There shall come a time far from now when our Chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my children, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the Wolftime."




I had the great fortune to work on three wolf packs at once. I knew I had to take a picture of Russ running with the wolves, streaming into an enemy. 

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Friday 17 March 2017






An Old Empire general conversion commission based around Teutonic knight heraldry.


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ONLINE MASTERCLASS TUITION 

Thursday 16 March 2017








Freki & Geri Wolf Kin commission pieces. I wanted to go traditional and have one white, one black wolf.

Would you like to learn how to paint these miniatures? 


Wednesday 15 March 2017










This miniature was a wonderful surprise to find on the eve of the weekender. The pose is elegant, regal and imposing and I wanted the painting to reflect that. The purple cloak is hailing to those who serve directly under the pleasure of the Emperor (an honour only bestowed to one legion) and have clean crisp lines to contrast with the bullet riddled marble. 



If you would like to learn how to paint metallics like this why not sign up to the online tutorial service?