Exitus stage left

It's been a minute since I had a good old hobby hangout. Just sitting around a table with a few friends, talking and painting the afternoon away. It's a very civilised way to spend time.* Being in between projects, I cast about for something to do that I could both start and finish in one day; particularly something that I might not otherwise get around to. And then I remembered: I've got that Warhammer Plus Vindicare Assassin sitting primed in the cabinet. What's his name... Googles... ah yes, Operative Umbral-Six. I'd only built him to see if his pose still worked when he's removed from his giant hero rock statue.

The thing is, once a mini has been started, it takes up space in my brain until it's finished. And I built this spandexy boy over eighteen months ago. I couldn't imagine using him regularly, so he'd never made it to the front of the painting queue. As single afternoon projects go, he's perfect. Not over-detailed, not too many different elements. Very doable. So do him I did.

I've always struggled with the idea of actually using an assassin in a game. Canonically they can only be dispatched by the High Lords of Terra, and beyond that, they'd only actually appear on a battlefield if something's gone desperately wrong.

As is so often the case, I just take the official lore to be mythic overstatement and/or propaganda. It'd take such a long time to get word to and from Terra that the system couldn't hope to work at all. I'm all for leaning into the comedically grinding gears of the Adeptus Terra, but this does seem a smidge too far. Instead I imagine powerful bodies like the Inquisition or Sector Governors can petition more localised representatives of the Officio Assassinorum, and so long as the target is both worthy of their attention and not Imperial, it's doable. One imagines that the assassination of more senior Imperial figures requires ever more senior levels of sign-off, until eventually it's the sort of thing that only the High Lords can decide.

You've got to love the sheer practicality of wearing a second skin of black spandex and then trying to stay hidden in any environment other than backstage at a theatre. Still, while I could've painted him in sensible colours, the whole concept is so over the top that I just committed to the bit. See also: the bright brass aquila and red dagger tassle.

Any rubbery areas (so, the bodyglove, webbing and scope eyepiece) got a basecoat of Vallejo matte black, and were then layered up with Corvus Black, Eshin Grey, Dawnstone, and finally Administratum Grey. Some glazes were needed to blend the layers together in places; if it gets too light, the whole thing just reads as grey. Too dark, and it looks like you didn't paint it. I never quite got it to the point where I was thrilled with the results on his arms, but his legs look OK. I shrugged and moved on.

Hard objects, like the helmet and the Exitus Rifle, got a different shade of black. Again, a basecoat of Vallejo matte black, but then highlighted with Incubi Darkness, then edge highlighted with Thunderhawk Blue.

This was simple enough, it just took patience to slowly slice the assassin's feet off the I-beam he's moulded onto with a scalpel. Once he was off, I put a fat wedge of green stuff on the base and sculpted it into a rocky slope, then used texture paint to give it some ground texture.

I debated having him lean back further to get the gun parallel with the ground, but I suspect I'll often deploy this idiot in the first available tower I can see, so some downward angling seems like a winner, and means his weight placement doesn't look too weird. I guess up close he's just kneecapping people?

My Imperial armies now eagerly await a cavalcade of Night Lords, Word Bearers, and other assholes deserving of a bullet to the brainpan. Guluk the Git would also be much improved if his face was replaced with an exit wound. Sadly, there's no point giving Trazyn the same treatment.

For all that I can see some mistakes, I'm happy with him for an afternoon's work, and my list of WIP projects is now that much shorter.

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* For a given value of 'civilised.' Harvey brought what I can only describe as an acropolis of biscuits.