By Ben Monro

Here it is the second update of my beloved Knights of the Red Blade and just how has my dear force under construction fared this week I hear you cry. Well no doubt I’m about to tell you. It’s been a fantastic week of hobbying, I’ve painted, I’ve glued and most importantly I battled!… Well not so much on that latter account unfortunately. No this week the more creative side of our beloved hobby has defiantly dominated my time, amongst less pressing matters such as a 3^rd year film dissertation and a grad film project… but that’s by the by. No unfortunately The Knights of the Red Blade spent the week sharpening their blades and polishing that armour, with the intentions, of possibly dazzling those foul demons to death when they finally do take to the battlefield.

So I finally finished work on my Grey Knights Brother Captain, or as we all know him as Sir Markus the Red Blade, no doubt my future enemies are trembling in fear at the prospect of facing such a temptuous warrior on the battlefield. I poured what seemed like endless hours of work into this guy and hopefully that is evident in the finished result. Initially I wasn’t happy with my work but seeing the finished on a painted base and using some finishing touches tips that I’d picked up from the guys down at my local Games Workshop in Cardiff such as using washes in particular Reikland Fleshade on the prominent white sections of Sir Markus, as I wanted to create a slightly dirty white armour for this guy as he’s just that little bit more pure and regal (or at least supposed to be) than you’re regular Grey Knight and this shade really made the white pop out whilst adding some nice shading and depth to those deeper parts of the models, It’s a theme that I’m going to continue into the construction and painting of my Paladin Squad, as the two units will no doubt be accompanying each other into combat regularly.

The paints themselves, the Citadel range is simply fantastic, although they cost at little more a theme I’m finding is prominent through much of the Games Workshop range, you can’t dispute the quality. I tried a variety of other paint makes such as P3 the Privateer Press produced paints and Game Color but found them quite watery and difficult to work with. Similarly although much of the war gaming community seem to be opposed to Games Workshop in general, and no doubt some of their business decisions can be quite questionable, I can’t say a word against the guys at my local GW, they offer great advice on painting and army building. It’s somewhat more useful to obtain in person rather than via YouTube. So I strongly recommend that any of you new hobbyists out there no matter what you’re working on, take advantage of the free advice that’s on offer! I’m actually headed down there today to pick up some Citadel Paint Pallet’s as I was un-able to find them anywhere else on the web for a reasonable price!

Lastly in the past week I’ve begun the construction of my first and possibly only Paladin squad, this is quite an improvement for me as I’m already finding myself easily distracted by smaller more interesting hobbyin’ projects (I had to get that Dwarf piloted bauble painted up in time for Christmas and who could refuse painting something this adorable!,) something which is threatening me ever actually completing my entire Knights of the Red Blade crusade and no doubt you guys are just as keen to see the entire force take the field, and as you can see I’d really better start making head way on that.

For the construction of the Paladins themselves, I wanted something a little bit special. The bas Grey Knight Terminator kit produced by GW is simply fantastic and has been a pleasure to enjoy, It’s filled with lovely little accessories which add some great narrative features to the models themselves, “Look at Sir Javar slaying that demon” or “ Sir Mekeses was protected from the taint of the warp Demon due to the protection of the ancient scrolls and tombs adorning his armour”, Just a few examples of my own. I also once more returned to Sci-Bor Miniatures and got myself some Roman Legionary Sci-Fi marines to make up the bodies of the Paladin, this way they’ll fit in nicely alongside Sir Markus (Grey Knight Brother Captain c’mon keep up!), I also splashed out a little bit through a web site called Bitz-Box, which are a fantastic resource for all those extra accessories you’d like to adorn you’re miniatures without purchasing full kits. I myself bought a few parts from the Bretonian and Empire ranges of Warhammer Fantasy really playing up that heraldry and Knight Aesthetic for my Paladins.

Well once more we come to the end of the Tales of the Red Blade, this week has been predominantly hobby focused but then that’s what were here for isn’t it?, but with my first session of Rouge Trader and a few games scheduled for the coming week, including a doubles game featuring some tasty Grey Kights on Eldar action. We’ll have plenty of action to discuss next week no doubt!

So please do come back for the next instalments of the Tales Of the Red Blade.

Thanks for reading.

Ben Monro