James WRR’s Rank & File 2: Highway to Hell

Phew. By some mad miracle, I actually pulled through this month. There were times at which the Field of Bones loomed up too close for comfort. But, nope, not this time. I’ve completed my quota for March (in fact, technically over-achieved), and marched ever closer to completing my heavy metal army of Slaaneshi freaks.

The reason for my panic this month was one simple factor: edge highlighting. For some reason, I decided a colour scheme that required at least four layers of ever-fine lines on almost every square millimetre of model was a good idea for a timed challenge.

While edge highlighting these guys may have been an absolute pain, I’m really pleased with how they’re coming out. The wacky shapes of the Rogue Trader sculpts really come alive when you draw the detail out.

But which models received this treatment in March? Well, the heart and soul of any Space Marine army, of course! The humble Tactical Squad and their Dedicated Transport.

Introducing Sgt. Franciscus Fereter and his squad of degenerate renegade super soldiers.

Now, you’ll probably recognise Sgt. Fereter and his Divine-inspired make-up from my first Rank & File month. He was just strutting ahead, as all good leaders do, his five remaining squad members taking their leisurely time to arrive.

 

I love that in Realm of Chaos, all squads dedicated to a specific Chaos God are organised in that deity’s holy number. It makes thematic sense and, because I’d chosen followers of Slaanesh this time around, cuts down on the amount of models that needed collecting and painting for a legal squad… I feel for all Tzeentch enthusiasts and their nine-model units.

 

There’s not all that much to write this month about process, apart from my major realisation that I just don’t get along with batch painting.

I initially started painting all five marines at once, trying to complete all the pink trim first, then the black panels, then the details across all five models. While this was a great way of getting colours down in a uniform manner, seeing such slow progress really drained my passion and energy for the project.

I felt these (now) rare, unique models deserved their own special treatment in the end. And so, once I had a good deal of the black and pink down, I started working on each individually. This way, I could complete almost a marine a day, and started lining up these little war-dollies on my shelf. That little hit of dopamine and pride was enough to keep me pushing through!

 

It was also a bit of a head-scratcher figuring out which of the Renegade sculpts I’d collected should form the Tactical Squad. You’ll note one of them (the fellow with the tall horns and skull-shaped mask) is very clearly a Khorne model. But a little lick of pink paint later and he’s just a particularly-angry looking Slaaneshi marine.

I particularly love the guy with the glowing green Chaos star and gas-mask-like helmet. I understand this is one of the more sought-after Renegade sculpts, and I can see why. He’s quite “God-agnostic” and brutal looking in a way that makes him stand out from his more cartoonish brothers. So, of course, I finished him first.

We also can’t forget the Rhino! This metal box proved a real challenge to get my hands on. Facebook trading groups had dried up and eBay prices for even dilapidated copies were a bit ridiculous. 

At one point, I did consider just caving and buying a new, modern Horus Heresy Deimos Rhino and sticking some green stuff tubes all over it. But no, I persisted with my eBay scouring and eventually scored a near-complete Rhino, with a slightly later Chaos upgrade kit attached, for a reasonable price.

Now, nothing’s perfect (no matter how much Slaanesh’s followers may wish it to be) and I quickly noticed this Rhino had been through many paintjobs in its long life.

I didn’t really have the time to strip the damn thing down to bare plastic, and so I just decided to work around the blobby paint and obscured details as best I could. There are a couple quirks about this model, sure, but I think the paintjob goes a long way to camouflaging them. 

I tried painting a sort of wobbly, rippling pattern across the main armour panels, along the raised lumps and bumps of over-painted areas. These shapes could be interpreted as ripples in the armour, biomechanical veins or even crackling energy (maybe my Emperor’s Children bought this Rhino secondhand off the Night Lords).

It ain’t perfect, but hey, now it’s my MK.1 Rhino.

And so, with the Tactical Squad and their ride added to the list, my Emperor’s Children collection suddenly look like a real army. After a little bit of revision, here’s where my list is standing at the end of March:
 

Army list (as of March)

Caligulus the Hierophant
Chaplain on Steed of Slaanesh
Minor Hero, Basic Equipment
Attributes: Furry
Chaos Gift: Steed of Slaanesh, itself with Vividly Coloured Skin and Poisonous Bite
60

Dio Saevus
 
Possessee, host of a Daemonette

Minor Hero, Standard Equipment

Attributes: Tentacles, Horns, Bestial Face, Powerful Legs, Agility, Massive Intellect

280

Neadalus Reborn

Chaos Dreadnought
Heavy Plasma Gun, Claw 

150

6 Daemonettes

Attributes: Tentacles, Bestial Face, Prehensile Tails, Razor-Sharp Claws, Vividly Coloured Skin, Bulbous Eyes
600
 
Squad Fereter
Tactical Squad

Standard Equipment, 1 Meltagun, Scare Gas Grenades
Attributes: Sergeant Franciscus Fereter has Razor-Sharp Claw, Bulbous Eyes
164

Incubus
Rhino
370

Total points
1,642

Oh, before I go and rest my weary eyes and RSI-addled hands, I wanted to shout out John R and thank him for his kind gift of a classic Space Dwarf. Here he is meeting his new friends. I’m sure he’ll be fine and remain completely uncorrupted...