Welcome once more readers. I've decided todo this blog post to really take about the hobby aspects of my Thousand Sons; the buying, building and painting. I'm hoping to discuss all of these aspects and also rate the kits I've been using to assemble the army to give you an insight into how the army has gone into being. I'll try to look at cost, ease of converting, the extras you get, and ease of painting when talking about the kits, and the cost, available and ethos of my eBay purchases.
I bought the first box of models on the 27th December, the Thousand Sons Rubric Marines. From here I picked up an MK III tactical squad which gave me my first Tactical Squad. This was followed by half of the Betrayal at Calth box (Tactical Squad, Dreadnought and Chaplain) and then with a second MK IV squad, a set of Tartaros Terminators,the Scarab Occult Terminators, and the Ravenwing bikes (both the Dark Vengeance and the Ravenwing Command Squad). These were the main boxed sets I bought in the first two months, later additions being 2 boxes of Raptors, the Exalted Sorcerers and 2 boxes of Sniper Scouts.
The plastic kits go together like a dream, as you might expect from Games Workshop. With the ones I'd chosen there were actually very few large Imperial eagles to file down, the Scouts were the only exception. The Chaos ones had almost no iconography that needed to be removed, most nowadays are optional parts that get attached. The main parts that need removed are the rims on the shin pads and the assorted spikes on the vambraces. The Raptor jump packs were a grade-A bastard to clean up and remove the 'growths' from, but far more affordable than buying the Forgeworld ones or the Sanguinary Guard packs. They were very easy to mix together, the only bits that were an issue were the Thousand Sons bolters as the wrist is oddly angled so if you attach them to non-Rubric arms then they will point upwards at an awkward angle. There is the decisions that have to be made as to what to do with the big Rubric helms, Some people don't feel that they fit the heresy-era stuff, that lore-wise they came came after the Rubric Curse. I personally feel they are fitting for the Veterans and Sergeants in my army. I spread the bolters through the army as the novels are filled with regular marines with personalised weapons and this fitted the bill nicely. I had intended to do the same with the Rubric legs and loincloths but as I was buying a lot of stuff from eBay I just couldn't get them at a price that I could afford. This means that in some ways they look like a 'regular' Marine army which is no bad thing. The Rubric pieces are all very ornate and I don't feel that is necessary for all the basic marines. There were a few things that I found to be issues as I put the force together.
The first is backpacks as there are never spare backpacks on a sprue so I've had to order a few spare sprues of them as I've made the army. The MK IV squad comes with special packs for the missile launchers which gives me extra packs at least. Or rather it would if I had made any missile launchers for my army... I have the Thousand Sons ones which Jonathan assures me can be used as an early style of backpack, apparently one that was prone to overheating. However as he also rightly pointed out, they have daemonic bird skulls, claws and feet on them which are really noticeable. Thus I've decided that, except for on Ahriman's Command Squad, I will give them a miss.
The second thing is the khopeshes. The terminators come with two spare on the sprue, the Exalted Sorcerers have two as well but that is pretty much it. Now I personally don't feel that all power weapons need to be khopeshes, staves are good too and as the majority of their weapons would've come from Mechanicum forges there's nothing wrong with conventional wargear for them. I was lucky enough to win 13 of Scibor's khopeshes and Egyptian axes for £5 which has allowed me to make my Blademasters and also my Cataphractii Sekhmet terminators. I have ordered the upgrade pack for them that gives me the combi-weapons (plasma) I want and the left arms to hold the two-handed axes as despite many people using khopeshes as swords or axes depending on what their opponent has put on the table, I feel this is a bit cheesy so want a clear distinction. However this meant that I needed more khopeshes and I was lucky that I had 4 spare Scarab Occult ones.
When building an army you must always consider how you are going to paint it. Now that sounds fairly obvious, but stay with me. If you make an army out of the aforementioned kits then you are looking at some kits that have some very ornate parts to them. The Rubric Marines, the Scarab Occult, the Exalted Sorcerers and Ravenwing are good examples of this. This will seriously slow down your painting, especially if they are metallic details as gold in particular struggle to go over the base paints. With the exception of the new Age of Sigmar metallics the GW metallics are weak and very runny which doesn't lend itself well to painting the swirls and gilt on the Thousand Sons legs and torsos. The Sons' arms and helms have stripes that will need to be picked out too (if you are doing the Red/white colour scheme they'll resemble candy canes as a result...) which can really slow you down.
So, the painting. Two ways to go: metallic or chromatic. I went metallic and have learned a few valuable lessons. I sprayed the army leadbelcher, drybrushed it Stormhost silver and then did several washes of Spiritstone Red. It was 2-3 on generic infantry plus a couple more on key areas/areas that didn't hold colour well, for example the back packs and thigh plates. The shoulder pad rims, chest straps on the MK IV torsos, face grills on the MK III helms and gilt were done Balthazar Gold, Nuln Oil, layered with Ghennia Gold then Auric Gold and edged with Stormhost Silver. Rivets were picked out in Stormhost Silver as was all the metal areas highlighted in the same way. Bolter casings and tabards are Administratium Grey, layered Ulthuan Grey and highlighted White Scar. Eyes are Caliban Green, layered Warboss Green, a thin strip of Moot Green, then a small dot of White Scar. The shoulder pad symbol is hand painted and easier than it looks. It takes an hour or so to paint one apart from the Spiritstone drying, and the base is Rhinox Hide, Agrellan Earth, an Agrax Earthshade wash followed by a Baneblade Brown drybrush. Valhallan Blizzard is heaped on and the rims are painted Abaddon Black.
So am I happy with it? Well, yes and no. It is very striking which I like, but now not unique which is a shame. It looks nice from a distance but up close my bolters aren't great and the red is at times 'lumpy', especially on the Vindicator, which could've been avoided by using an air brush. The red is also darker than hoped. This is because I didn't basecoat the models gold. If I had done so then anything going over it would've been much brighter. I am torn between sticking with the scheme I'm using and buying gold to do the rest of the force. I will likely just stick as I don't want the force to look like it was two separate parts. Units like the Destroyers and Blademasters might be done differently differently to make them stand out. I intend to wearer the Destroyers and make them look scorched from the radiation weapons they carry and the Blademasters will be done in the traditional, pre-Magnus colours: bone, blue and orange. I am tempted to paint 'writing' onto some models armour in white, maybe the Sekhmet, to represent words of power, sacred ennounciations and suchlike. I will also try some of the different shoulder pad styles from Inferno, particularly on units like Seekers and Destroyers that have more specific roles.
Magnus took a surprisingly short amount of time to do. There's a lot of drybrushing which sped him up: his armour is Balthazar Gold, a Carroburg Crimson wash, Scyorax Bronze drybrush then a Hashut Copper one, with a light Stormhost Silver drybrush. His robes are the aforementioned way of doing white, the decorations are Screaming Bell, Skullcrusher Bronze and then Runelord Bronze. On some of those bits I put the Verdigris wash in after the Screaming Bell for ageing, especially on the book. His skin is Mephiston Red, washed Reikland Fleshtone then highlighted with Mephiston Red with more and more Ungor Flesh mixed in. The turquoise sections are Stegadon Scale Green, a Biel-Tan green wash, layered Temple Guard Blue then Sotek Blue for the final highlight. Yet again I'm pleased with how he looks. There's a few bits that could've turned out better but they tended to be heavy-handed uses of washes.
So, time to rate the kits. The Betrayal at Calth and the Burning of Prospero are great starting points. Calth gives an, albeit it generic, excellent starting place for any would be Space Marine player, 30 or 40k. Three tactical squads, a Contemptor Dreadnought, Cataphractii and then the Praetor and Chaplain is a great start. It's £95 but you are getting £190 worth of stuff if bought off the shelves. The kits are good, Contemptor being the weakest due to only going together one way.
The Tactical Squads are the basis of everything you do, easy to assemble and mix into other boxes. They could do with some extra 'straight' arms I feel, but for just making what's in the box they don't need more than they have. There's a choice of heavy bolter or missile launcher (with a separate backpack), all three special weapons as well as all the weapon options for the sergeants. This is huge as it means you aren't scraping for power weapons and power fists like it used to be for Tactical Squads. In addition you can horde the bits from a few squads to make Heavy Support or Tactical Support squads, and I know many people just use the MK III armour as hardened armour. The lightning claw option for the MK IV squad isn't great but it is more than acceptable for a sergeant, it's the 'boxing glove' clenched fist that I personally don't like. They are cheap on eBay but £30(!!!) in a GW. I'd say 4/5 for them.
The Cataphractii Terminators are £40 in a GW and £28 on eBay (same as regular terminators). They have a heavy flamer, the options of lightning claws, chainfists or power fists for every one, plus a grenade harness for the sergeant, There's only one power weapon (sword), but they are really poseable and can be posed in dynamic poses rather than the static poses that regular terminators get, and there's the awesome Forge World upgrade set, with two combi-bolters, a reaper cannon, the plasma blaster, three thunder hammers and two power mauls. The tassels being attached to the arms is a slight pest as it forces the arms to be put in certain poses. The price is a big turn-off though, so they get a 3/5 from me.
The Tartaros terminators have the heavy weapons added to the sprue, plus a Volkite Charger. The chainfists require you to attach the blades to the fists which is an arse and looks a bit iffy in my opinion. They are only £35 from the GW and between £20-30 on eBay which is more affordable which makes me feel that with the Cataphractii you are paying for in-game effectiveness rather than volume of plastic. They don't have the option of interesting combi-weapons and the price is a bit high still but the heavy weapons is a huge bonus so 3.5/5 for them.
It is worth comparing them to the Wolf Guard terminator box which are £28 for 5, with heavy weapons and a full suite of combat weapons which I feel is the benchmark for terminator models. Ouch.
The Contemptor dreadnought.... Looks awesome once it's made, goes together fairly easily, but only in one way. Very limited set of weapons and they don't include the stock heavy bolter that it comes with. This is a massive oversight in my opinion, and there is almost no converting opportunity due to the way it goes together. It looks very generic, but then there are the Forgeworld ones I guess, but it would be nice if it came with some extra bits to put on it to make it look unique. It is also £35, but £19 on eBay, so 2.5/5 (3.5/5 on eBay).
The characters from Calth and Prospero suffer the same problem as the Contemptor, the Calth more so as they aren't 'special' characters like Ahriman and Fell-Handed. They only go together one way, they are cut in bizarre ways which is a pain for converting and the pricing is insane at £30 for two characters (£12 on eBay). There are a lot of good examples of people who've converted them so it can be done but just requires more work. The chainfist on the Praetor is just daft, no-one wants a leader who strikes last (no wonder he dies in the novella). It is worth noting that they are your only character options at the moment which does make them pretty much essential which makers Calth or a £30 box a necessary purchase. I rate them as 2/5 at GW and 4/5 on eBay.
The Thousand Sons Rubric Marines come with the option of ten regular models, or 9 and a sorcerer. They can all have flamers if you choose, there's plenty of choice, I believe eleven different heads! The sorcerer has the choice of two casting hands or two pistols, two staff tops (sadly no khopeshes) and two chest plates as well. The kit is beautiful, there's so much detail and a surprising lack of Tzeentch symbols which makes converting so much easier. There's also a Soulreaper cannon (heavy bolter or rotor cannon in 30k) and an Icon of Flame (not getting used as it's a huge flaming Tzeentch icon, unholy bling). It's £30 from GW and £28 on eBay so no real saving. The parts kit-bash really really well, except the aforementioned hands/arms issue with the heresy-era arms, and if you want Legion Veterans, fancy sergeants, Seekers or suchlike then they are a fantastic choice of models, especially if you mix them with the heresy armour kits. The only issue is that they have the 'classic' Chaos Space Marine backpacks as I mentioned earlier so you need to get more from somewhere. They get a 4.5/5 from me.
The Scarab Occult Terminators are similarly good. 5 models with 7 or 8 chest plates, 7 khopeshes, a left-handed combi-bolter(!!), a staff with choice of tops, an extra helmet and a few wee extras (extra loin cloth too). They are quite static looking, as you might expect from the Scarab Occult (all IS dust) but with careful posing and use of Tartaros arms they look more dynamic. They have a Soulreaper cannon (reaper autocannon) and a Warp Flamer (heavy flamer) as well as a Hellfyre Missile rack (grenade harness....) but no power fists or chainfists as they can't get them in 40k. They are £35 from the GW and about £30 from eBay. This stops them getting the 5 out of 5 rating as the Wolf Guards are far cheaper. I rate them as 4/5, maybe even 4.5/5.
The Exalted Sorcerers. Holy shit what a kit! Three models with 8 heads, 5 chest plates, Emperor-only knows how many arms, and only two or three tzeentch icons. The shoulder pads are awesome, the Scarab and raven skull ones are my favourite, as is the bird helm. There are two 'daemonic' heads that aren't much use, and a shoulder pad. They have attachable collars so that if you go for a smaller helm you can stick on something that will ensure you can never enter a low doorway without snapping your genetically enhanced neck. The back packs are cool, one is a bit chaotic but still look really good, especially the one with the flaming braziers (no more Black Coach bitz orders needed). I turned them into my Command Squad thanks to the MK III heads and a bitz order from Britannicus14 that gave me the Space Marine banner, as well as Scibor's khopeshes. It is a stunning box with so many spare bits, including a Disk of Tzeentch. The models have so many cool bits sculpted onto them that they don't need stuff added, so there's loads to go around the army, just be careful that some are more daemonic than they first look. It's £35 from GW, £32 from eBay, which is a lot, but it is worth every penny. If you need to go cheaper then you can get it from Wayland games for £28 (if you don't mind waiting a year or two for delivery) or Dark Sphere (much safer choice). It's a 5/5 from me for this kit, and in my opinion one of the best that GW has ever done.
The Chaos Raptors are another kit I've fallen in love with. They are covered in spikes, chaos icons, have daemonic heads and there are random eyes sculpted onto their jump pack harnesses, thus couldn't be less useful at first glance. However if you have a spare hour or so then these issues can be filed away and they become very serviceable Destroyers or Assault Marines. I will admit that they might look better in World Eaters or Night Lords but I love this kit. With a few choice bits from the MK III or IV kits they will look far more loyalist, especially if said bits are helms and bolt pistols. The jump packs will require a fair bit of work to sort the spines that are coming out the intake turbines at the top: I'm not too happy with how mine have turned out. They are an awful lot of work, but they come with loads of extras; several pairs of plastic, power armoured lightning claws, an awesome power sword (Eternal Hunt uses them on his World Eaters), nasty looking chain swords and some unique helms. They are £21 from GW and about £18 from eBay. I give them 4/5 as whilst they are stunning it's such a large amount of work to make them serviceable for this army.
Sniper Scouts... Sigh. Dated models, awful heads, giant imperial eagles on their chests. At least they went together fairly easily. Their optional chest pouches covered the damage left behind by the filing thankfully, and the heads were replaced by Tempestus Scions heads. I'm using them as my Ammitara Occult Intercession Cabal but I'm starting to wish I'd just ordered 10 Recon Marines from Forgeworld (yeah...). They are £15,50 from GW or about £10 on eBay. There's no extras of any interest in the box, so it's a 2.5/5 for these guys. They are a poor choice for Recon marines, they just don't look good and there's guides on the web about making nice Recon armour.
Ravenwing Command Squad is a nice kit with decent bits in it. If you aren't concerned with Outriders looking like the Forgeworld ones then they are a great choice as they have plenty of power weapons and three twin-linked plasma guns. They also have the parts to make a MK VI apothecary, which you can stick on a bike if you choose or give power armoured legs. Make sure that if you are using these as your bikers you are careful as plasma guns on bikes are an 'all or nothing' option, that is all members of the squad must have them or none. This will likely tack about 150 points onto a squad which is something that I found out the hard way when using Battle Scribe. They have power swords, power (pick) axes and power mauls (baseball bats!) which is cool, but like the Raptors they will require a lot of filing to get rid of the Dark Angel symbols, and there's a lot of those. They have a lot of cool extra bits and if you are wanting to play Caliban/Terra's finest then they are first rate. From GW they are £30 and on eBay you're looking at £26.50 cheapest. I'd give them a 3.5-4/5 as it requires a lot of work, like the Raptors, but the big icons on them are the sort that if you slip you'll lose a finger... just saying!
Now, for some pictures!
Hope you enjoyed this and that it gave you some food for thought. Until next time
