#castraferrum

It’s been a minute since I did a Throwback Thursday, so here’s an oldie but goody Grey Knights Mortis-pattern Mk IV Venerable Dreadnought, or what was affectionately referred to as the psifleman back in 2011 when psibolt ammunition was strong in the meta.

Once Contemptor Dreadnoughts and their weapons were on the market, I got super into attaching them to the close combat weapon shoulders of the more conventional boxnaughts - and while it is kind of a pricey way to build a Mortis, it looks super bad.

One of my favorite tricks for getting extra mileage out of the old Mk IV Venerable Dreadnought body was to slap Contemptor weapons on close combat arms. The ability to traverse the gun opens up a wealth of posing options.

This build was a commission for an alternate Bjorn the Fell-Handed, before the plastic kit was available and also, apparently, when he could take a plasma cannon instead of the traditional assault cannon.

Since the Forge World kit’s legs had a little more stride in them than the standard plastic Dreadnought’s, I decided to have him leaning into the shot as if weathering a hail of suppressing fire. The left foot, plasma cannon and eye line are all pointed in the same direction, while the lightning claw is cocked back as if he’s rounding on his target.

The claws came from a plastic Blood Angels Furioso Dreadnought, which I think dates this build to some time in the earlier part of 2012.