My first ever set of Tempestus Scions are now built and painted and ready to battle! These are great models, but a faff to build – even when following the instructions to the letter.

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Tempestus Scions – Build

I built these models in February during my mild building spree, which I talked about in my Pile of Shame Promise blog post. It must be noted that I cannot remember the last time I built an infantry model, it could have been over three years ago.

But, I was not prepared for these models. They are hard work to build, matching the cables up is very hard as there are a lot of moving parts to get in the right place. There are the two arms that should match up to the hands modelled on the Hot-Shot Lasguns and then there is the cable that comes off of the gun and marries up to the other half of the pipe that comes from the backpack.

As others suggested, I considered just snipping the cables off as it was just not worth the headache. I timed myself to build this first model, 27 minutes. I had 15 to build (admittedly not all with Hot-Shot Lasgun cables), but that would be about 7 hours of build time at this rate.

I built the rest with various configurations, including the second Hot-Shot Lasgun with no cable, which shaved off 5 minutes of time.

1. 27 minutes – Hot-Shot Lasgun with Cable – glued legs
2. 22.5 minutes – Hot-Shot Lasgun without Cable – glued legs
3. 13.5 minutes – Plasma Gun – glued legs
4. 12.5 minutes – Meltagun – static legs
5. 11.5 minutes – Sergeant – static legs

That is 1hr 27mins in total. As you can see I got quicker and quicker.

First Tempestus Scion with cable

A tip for you, if you are using the legs that require one lower leg to be glued on, glue that on first and let it set solid while you complete the body. Then the legs will be set and ready to be attached to the base. It was really annoying to do the body and then get to the leg that needed to be glued. I then had to wait for the leg to set before being able to fix it to the base. If the leg isn’t set when trying to attach it to the base, you will end up with a cockeyed leg.

The second batch of five Tempestus Scions, using the same configuration as above took me 1 hr 13mins. An improvement of 14 minutes over the first five! And the third took me 1hr and 11mins. So quicker and quicker. 3hrs and 51 mins in total!

• 1hr 27mins for batch 1
• 1hr 13mins for batch 2
• 1hr 11mins for batch 3

A quick note; I went and got bought a box of 5 more Scions after I finished the first 15. I realised that I could not field the models I had built in a Patrol Detachment as I had no HQ. So I got another box of 5 for a Tempestor Prime, then bought some Scion Plasma Guns from eBay to give myself 3 more Plasma Guns – for a total of 6. I then made a Hot-Shot Volley Gun/Medi-Pack guy.

I can hear you saying…

Who times themselves building models?

This guy!

All hobby is hobby content and all hobby content will be of use to someone, somewhere out there! I am sure? The same reason why I take loads and loads of photos. It covers everything, so that someone, somewhere, can learn from me.

Tempestus Scions – Special Weapons

The breakdown of models goes like this;

• Tempestor Prime
• 6x Plasma Guns
• 3x Meltaguns
• 3x Sergeants with Plasma Pistols and Power Fists
• Hot-Shot Volley Gun/Medi-Pack
• 6x Hot-Shot Lasguns

This gives me a good mix of weapons to call upon when list building, it also gives me the ability to field a Tempestus Scions Command Squad with 4x Plasma Guns.

Hot-Shot Volley Guns

Only 1 Hot-Shot Volley Guns I hear you say!

I am afraid so, the stats just did not appeal to me. And the Heavy element is really off-putting as it means they will be BS4+ for the most part, after dropping in for instance. Strength 4 too, is just a bit meh. It is fine against T3 – which is rare, but it is only one Damage. I can see how it goes…

• Scions drop-in
• Heavy 4 with -1 to hit (because it is a Heavy Weapon), so 2 hit on average
• S4 vs T4 on a Marine – so on average 1 causes a Wound
• -2 AP so a 3+ Save becomes 5+, so maybe it gets saved
• If it doesn’t, then 1 Damage is caused to the target, no dead Marine
• Scions then die

So I stuck with the old favourites of Plasma and Melta.

Tempestus Scions – Painting

For those interested in the process of painting these guys went like this;

• Primed in Chaotic Red from Army Painter and any Chaotic Red leftover was washed with a black Abteilung502 Oil
• Metallics all in Vallejo Metal Color, black Abteilung502 Oil and Nuln Oil
• Hats and Sergeant shoulder’s in Evil Sunz Scarlet and Nuln Oil
• Blacks in Abaddon Black and highlighted in Secret Weapon Miniatures Rubber Highlight
• Skin in Kislev Flesh, Bugman’s Glow, and Reikland Fleshshade
• Games Workshop Gemstone Paints on the lenses
• Cloth in Zandri Dust, Agrax Earthshade  and Seraphim Sepia
• Base in Steel Legion Drab and Agrellan Earth – then finished with Vallejo Red/Rust Pigment
• Blood was done with my hair and Blood for the Blood God
• The Power Sword, shown below, used White Scar, Caledor Sky and Baharroth Blue
• The Prime’s cloak was done gradually with black/brown oil washes from the base and then finished with Vallejo Red/Rust Pigment

Completed Tempestor Prime Gallery

Completed Gallery

Tempestor Prime Power Sword Gallery

I did the Power Sword via my mini airbrush compressor with White Scar, Caledor Sky and Baharroth Blue.

Plasma Pistols and Guns

Quick note I used the same colours for a simple Plasma Gun effect too.

WIP Gallery

These are mainly WIP photos from the single Tempestus Scion I did as a test before the other models.

Tempestus Scions – Replacement Cables

A quick section on the cables, as I tried another approach with my Scions. I decided to try either a 0.5mm or 1mm insulated wire. I headed to eBay and got a metre of each wire to try and fashion my own more flexible cables.

I do like the look of some of these, especially the under left configuration – like the original model, but without the faff of trying to match them up. But, it would be a faff to do them like this too.

Each would need to be drilled, then glued in, bent correctly, etc. It just seems like a lot of effort. Then what if I want 15 more in two years time? I need to then do the same again with the same cable.

So just snipped the cables off and kept them like that. For me, they still work.