Bathing in Blood WIP

A long time it’s been. Much gotten done, I have not. A break for the soul is good, no?

(Don't worry, my crap Yoda impression is done with.)

Truth be told, it was good to get back into the paint mode again these past few days and I’ve been rolling along nicely. Not on my own projects though, but working to kick out the couple commissions I have sat on my desk.



“Commissions?! Why this bloke barely paints better than tabletop!” I hear you say. It’s true, it’s true. But there’s lazy people out there and for some reason one came to me wanting his figs painted so he didn’t have to. No monies involved though, more bartering for comics and some other things.



So what is it that’s been worked on – well, Draigo, Lord High Pickle Features of the Grey Knights. Now, I’m not one to rant, but I am one to write falsehoods, so let me tell you my thoughts on Grey Knights in general. No, not from a silly 40K gaming perspective, (though that will be included in a wee form.) but from someone who’s been following this hobby on and off since Rogue Trader was first released and I bought my first pack of IronClaw Squats some…. Lots of years ago.



The Grey Knights were first released in White Dwarf as a mythical super-secret part of the Inquisition – a Space Marine Chapter created to combat that which even normal Space Marines had trouble taking down. This is back in the day when the fluff had it that Chaos, the Warp, daemons and other such sticky nonsense were not preached about in the churches and cathedrals of the Imperium. There wasn’t even the slightest whiff of them at all. Space Marines even, knew little to nothing (Librarium aside.) of the Warp and it’s dangers aside from – “It’s bad. Don’t think about it.”. Those who had the misfortune of being in contact were either destroyed, turned into servitors or mind wiped and reprogrammed to serve again from scratch… and that’s just the Legio Astartes! Normal citizens were usually destroyed outright due to the risk of them inviting (Unwittingly or otherwise) a Chaos incursion upon the systems of mankind. Preachers, Deacons, Cardinals and all of the other Ministorum dignitaries just stuck to “Worship the Emperor, despise the Xenos”. The End.



So here we are, with Chaos as the great enemy that only the highest echelons of Man’s military and religious might had knowledge of. Sure the Inquisition were there to root out the evils that went along with Chaos and it’s nasty ways, but sometimes that just wasn’t enough. Sometimes even their nasty torturing, brutal ways couldn’t finish the job – enter the Grey Knights! Space Marines even more highly trained than regular Astartes and e.v.e.r.y o.n.e a Librarian to boot! Powerful enough to take on Greater Daemons and have a chance of winning. They looked like normal marines in Terminator Armour, but with way more decoration and with these kick arse superduper halberds with bolters stuck on – it was awesome! Their army entry was for armies to be able to take ONE squad and just by that, it made them special, elite, badarse.



Fast forward to 2011 or when ever it was the latest codex came out.



Grey Knights… have a codex, an army book of their own. WTF? Weren’t they supposed to be this super secret, rarely, if ever, seen uber elite daemon-hunting force that offered the services of A SQUAD to those forces in the direst need of help against the forces of Chaos??? O, so that’s changed then…. Now they are a whole army of their own and… o right, now everyone knows about Chaos, they fight Chaos regularly without penalty and they get up again to do the same next week. So Grey Knights are now as “Special” as Paris Hilton crotch shots or news that the economy has gone bad. Again.



I no longer like Grey Knights. At all. I don’t like their ridiculous huge storm-bolter-on-wrist armours. I can’t stand how much decoration is emblazoned on their armour. And I can’t help but dislike how GW allowed the codex author to completely take all that was cool and special about them and then to completely feck it all up. It saddens this old 40K fan’s heart, almost as much as when Games Workshop ret-conned my beloved Squats, citing “Space Dwarfs” are stupid – yet continuing to embrace stupid pointy hat Space Elves, atypical Space Orks and other direct translations from their fantasy line.



Rant over.



Here’s a WIP of Draigo per the customer’s specifications. He’s doing the basing, which is fine by me. Just the banner to go.

I've also managed to get a little done on my Raven Guard Land Speeder, but that's a post for another blog and another time. Hope to have another update sometime this weekend!