A las-gun suppressor could shift the wave length of the light to make it harder to detect (pushing it to either end of the spectrum). Of course you can't actually see lasers of any color unless they're traveling through something (like smoke or dust), but on a battlefield there'd be plenty of that around.

I wonder about that when i see cover art for Gaunts Ghosts.

I dig the advice, sorry for hi-jacking the thread!!! I will have to work on the las-gun stuff and get back to ya'll with a post of my own!

It depends on what kind of energy you are looking at. A laser regardless of size generates a lot of heat, a suppressor might reduce the heat given off of the actual lascannon itself, reducing the heat signature of the dreadnought.

Or a blanket. This is Grimdark-land, get your voodoo heresey science-magic outta here!

You can get Flash supperssors, so Lasguns would definately make sue of those, and according to some of the Novels (most actually) Lasgins make a rather sharp Crack when they fire, so a sound dampner would be pretty fluffly too.

Or as Whale says,
blankets are good.

Good point. Although the idea that a Light emitter makes a crack is silly... But then again so are most laser guns in most sci-fi settings.

thegrav wrote:I dig the advice, sorry for hi-jacking the thread!!! I will have to work on the las-gun stuff and get back to ya'll with a post of my own!

No worries thegrav, it's kind a fun to see the thread assuming a life of it's own on occasion. Especially when my meaningful contributions are rather few and far between.

@gitsplitta: So for years I have been running Tanith first and only, however I have been wanting to build my own world. I have a mixture of Cadians and Catachans at my disposal, so I think I am going to take the inspiration you have provided and come up with something. I love what you have done by rebuilding/re-imagining the Mantis Warriors, but how did you start? The GS camo cloaks I made will be easy to either work in or scrap, however with the exception of my Guant HQ unit, I will need to stripped down and re-paint all my guys.

How did you sit back, look at it all, and what did you do first?

Hmmm.... good question.

Part I:

This will probably be a very unhelpful answer... but it's the truth. I've been playing Mantis Warriors for roughly 20 years on-and-off, with nothing more to go on than the 3(?) paragraphs in the original rule book & the two pictures (all of which are on the first page of the blog). During this time, I've had a lot of time to think about the chapter, roll things around in my head, try different "theories" out in a series of endless mental exercises. Don't read too much into this... they were just my constant companions over all that time, so I had a lot of time to kick things around. Also they were never my "first" army... so rather than getting the full force of my attention... they just kind of percolated through my thoughts... rising to the surface occasionally when something interesting occurred to me. The advantage here is that I never felt that I had to "force" a solution or answer... so I could let my ideas sort themselves out over years without any need to meet a deadline.

Part 2:

There is a LOT of my personal gaming/hobby bias in the current incarnation of the Mantis Warriors. The fact is, I don't like painting vehicles... and I was attracted to the hobby at a time when there were almost no tanks... (anyone remember the glue bottle or deodorant stick eldar grav tanks?). So for me, the dreadnoughts and terminators were the gods of battle. While GW has every right to slant the game towards mech if it suits them, and I know a lot of people love to play with tanks... it's just not my thing... not my personality. Actually, in writing this... something else has just occurred to me that I never put together before. For slightly longer than I've played 40k, I've been involved in a medieval recreation society where I partake in armored/martial combat. So the idea of armored men... from marine to dreadnought, meeting each other on the field of battle for the honor of their lord makes sense to me... it just fits. Tanks, cool as they are... I can't relate to because I have no personal experience in that realm. As a result, my bias is to build an army without wheeled or tracked vehicles because they do not fit my "vision" of heroic combat. (and don't read anything mundane into this... I'm just talking toy soldiers here... not RL)

Part 3:

Logic. If I was going to attempt this process, stringing together Part 1 & 2 would have to make sense. I'm scientifically trained... so even something like this needs to make some degree of sense for me to be satisfied with the end result. So I laid out all the facts I had relating to the Mantis Warriors and old GW fluff I knew and loved, as well as those artificial limitations I put on myself (no wheeled or tracked vehicles). Then I sat down to figure out how to get from point A to point B in a believable manner. Luckily, I had 20 years of nebulous ideas to draw from for a start... but for the most part I just used common sense... or at least what passes for it in Gitsplitta's world. What would happen to a chapter separated (banished) from the Imperium for 100 years? How could you successfully pursue a campaign against an enemy into the heart of it's own territory when you had no resources to draw on? How did they stop from falling into chaos? How would the look of the chapter change as men and machines were lost, never to be replaced? What compromises (heresies) would they have to make to survive the ordeal? Why would they be recalled and how would the Inquisition even know to do it? What would the rebuilding process look like? What aspects (if any) of the "Crusade configuration" would be retained and perpetuated in the chapter from that point onward? There were many others... but this gives you some idea of my process.

Part 4:

Dakka. This project would not be possible without the feedback I got HERE in the first, vital stages of preparation. Look at... oh, the first 5 pages. Basically all text... but pivotal to everything that goes on afterwards. I state my ideas, get feedback, modify my ideas accordingly, have epiphany leading to new ideas, etc. The only catch here is that you have tp present solid concepts for people to critique... presenting a few sketchy notions will rarely get you the valuable feedback that you need to improve your work. Give 'em something to chew on and don't be afraid to take negative criticism... embrace it, take it to heart, look for the truth in it. Then either change your ideas or defend them. Oftentimes I did not take every piece of advice offered, but I gave each one close scrutiny and consideration. When I was finished, I was more certain of the path I had chosen than before I was challenged on it. Defending your ideas is often an excellent way to clarify them.

Part 5:

Be true to yourself. Don't run from your natural talents, biases and abilities... rather embrace them. Make your army an extension of your own personality... it'll look better, be easier to understand and easier to run that way... and you'll have fun just being able to put it onto the table, regardless of the result. It may or may not be competitive... but it'll be YOUR army, not something popped out of a book or pulled off a BB or dictated to you by the latest, greatest uber-gamer. I don't suggest you have to build a stinker... I certainly plan on figuring out how to win with this army... but if the HOBBY aspect is important to you... then have a vision & stick to it, you'll be happier in the end.

Part 6:

Painting/Modeling: Since my Mantis warriors are the culmination of a multi-decade process, I decided to approach each model as if it was an independent character (from a P&M standpoint). Obviously I'm not a Golden Demon quality painter, but I'm making no compromises for speed and I'm getting better with time. So each model I produce is my best effort, which is why I have so few figures completed. That's fine... it took me all those years to get to this point, I can wait a bit longer to be done.


*Edited for content as I was half asleep when I wrote most if it last night...

Phew i finished reading it! You went into a lot of detail, bravo!

Yeah, that's a thorough and rather personal overview of your approach to the Hobby, thanks for sharing that with us...

Don't worry about being a bit slow, just go your own pace!!!

Cheers,

Got my little photo booth the other day and this was my first chance to experiment with it. Have to get some different bulbs as the color is way off & need practice adjusting the settings on my camera... but having more than a half centimeter of depth-of-field is nice for a change. Here are a few experimental shots just for fun...

WM's sternguard... in focus.



My one painted dread, both shots in the booth but the one on the right is maximized for depth-of-field.



Close up of the big banner on the dread... don't think I've ever shown this before. Problem with detail of this nature is that you can see where I've screwed up (like leaving the "n" off of "Be it known".



You remember this guy... sniper #1, this time in focus from barrel tip to body! (I have no idea how the tip of the grass got bright red)



Lastly a fun bit... you can see the reflection of my lighting set-up in the booth in the clear coat I put on the lens of the scope. One incandescent light on either side, and one doughnut shaped iridescent light over the top. Neat eh? I think that large, roughly oval mark there is something on the camera filter.

I know where that banner came from! Looks like you had it on the ammo box and then moved it down.

Yep, you're right. Must have forgotten to cover that up.... I'll take care of that this evening. Thanks for pointing it out... some times you look at a figure enough that you don't even "see" the problems any more, even if they're obvious.

Thanks for the food for thought. I have been playing long enough to have Chapter Approved and remember when Vehicles weren't so easy to find/affordable! Anyway.

Most of my formal education is in illustration, creative writing and concept development/design... not really skills I use at Starbucks... grrrr... So I have a 40k World that I have kicked around in my head for awhile, I just have never set it to paper, except for the odd note here or there. These notes usually dealing with things my Special Characters in my Word Bearers of DE have done. My current idea is to more completely develop that world, figure out how it ticks, what has happened there and why the make-up of the PDF is normal guard/catachan. From there I think I will move forward with as much/little help as I can get from Dakka.

Although I love the Tanith, they are not my own, and I am craving that creation more and more. You sir have truly inspired me!

More to come, when I can.

Sounds exciting thegrav, can't wait to see what you're up to! Assuming you start your own P&M for the project, you're welcome to announce it here so my 3 or 4 readers can swing by and check it out.

Writing things down is essential to keeping it all straight and remembering your good ideas, but it's one of the hardest things for me to do... it's a lot easier for me to model and paint than it is to come up with a plausible story and put it into prose. With your background and training it should be natural for you, that'll help quite a bit.

Special characters are the one thing I haven't really spent hardly any time thinking about. I worked up a good story for my Telion surrogate, but that was in response to just acquiring the figure... and I'm working on ideas for my MoTF... but again, that's fairly recent activity. All of my previous thoughts about the Mantis Warriors have always been army/chapter-oriented rather than character-oriented, with the exception of adding the cannoness into the command squad... she's been around for a long while.

I finally finished reading this blog. It took me a few days (at work) but I'm truly impressed. I would love to put my Red Corsairs against these Rebuilt Mantis Warriors! It would be like LeBron James with Miami's first game Vs. The Cavaliers! Alot of Heat! HA!

After reading this I kinda want to add some MW's to my Corsairs as a tribute. Tho I'm not sure fluff wise if there would be any that would remain before returning to the imperium or any of the other chapters during the Badab War.

@Styrofoam: Would LOVE to have the chance to pit our armies against each other! It would be a CLASSIC!!

I'll make you a deal... if you paint a Corsair for me... I'll paint a Mantis Warrior for you. We'll each figure out how we're going to incorporate the model into our respective armies, and we each do the build so we have what we want gear-wise... but we'll do the painting for each other. That way you have an authentic MW and I have an actual Corsair! We could always paint each other's colors... but that's not the same as having it done by the person running the other chapter... that's much cooler. Perhaps there were some members of each chapter "stranded" with their allies when Badab went to hell. Perhaps not all corsairs were converted to chaos before the end of the rebellion, thus when their chapter fled, they stayed on with the MW's to attone for their misdeeds, or perhaps some MW liaisons to the corsairs became tainted during the war and fled with them. I think it works... as least as far as I'm going to worry about. It is very fluffy and could add some interest to both our armies.

Actually building a tainted MW would be a peach.... I'm jealous already.


Catching up on things I forgot to respond to:

@Finchclaw: Eh, I tend to be a bit long-winded... comes from feeling the need to be correctly understood... which probably comes from having an over-inflated view of my own opinions.

@Yggdrasil: Thanks, for me the hobby is very personal... so it's hard to talk genuinely about it here with moving into that realm from time to time. I'll keep moving forward... just get's frustrating at times when I seem to make no progress while the painting projects and neat conversion ideas continue piling up. (tru-scale marines, movable door drop pods, MoTF conversion, jet bikes, etc...)

That sounds awesome! It will be like switching jerseys after a soccer game

although my painting is not up to your par (I have way too many sports analogies)

I've looked at the shots you have in your gallery... I'm fine with it. It's far more important to me to have an authentic Corsair, then just have a Corsair-like figure painted the same way I would do it.

When you're ready you let me know & we'll sort out the details then.

I love your use of the old "pointy heads". They really throw a lot of character into the models

@Styrofoam04: Actually, while you could have a tainted mantis warrior in your list, I couldn't have a Corsair in mine as at the time of the rebellion they were the Tiger Claws... not the Red Corsairs. However.... my Mantis Warriors don't yet have any dedicated objective markers. If I put a seriously cool chaos marine blazing away on a 40mm base (as like a Corsair accidentally stranded) it would make a great and very fluffy objective marker for me (trying to capture the stranded Corsair for inte. etc).

@ Samus: Most of the marine figures I own are beakies... dates the era that I started playing 40k (those were bought NEW)

That would be really cool. It would be like a Raiding party that was overrun and he is the 'last man standing' surrounded by empty shells, magazines, and bolters! I'll prolly open a WIP and we can work on the details. I'm pretty excited!

edit: I have started a post on this here 'Last Corsair Standing'
Gitsplitta: Can post any ideas of what you would like there. thanks

If you kids want I'd be happy to jump on said trades as well, though mine are much more boring :( DA or BA, which ever (I know I already have a MW Vet comming)

Well.... I think I just set a new first... I'm about to hijack my OWN thread!


So, Styro and I and going to do mini's for each other's armies... looks like we're going to both build *and* paint. He's going to do an objective marker Red Corsair for me, I will do a yet-to-be-determined chaos tainted Mantis Warrior for him. I encourage everyone to head on over to his blog and give him a hand as you all have done with me. He's got solid basics but hasn't done a lot of converting so I'm sure giving him some helpful tips will be most appreciated.

I have a number of ideas forming in my mind.... but until I know what type of marine he wants & any special war gear to include I cant really go any further. In any case this forum will be open for any and all suggestions. I'll WIP the whole project so their will be lots of opportunity for folks to speak up & contribute.


In the mean time I'll continue to work on my regular MWs as planned. Lots to do.... busy, busy, busy.


@whalemusic: you and I are already doing multiple exchanges... though eventually I'd like one of your boys too. Love the idea of collecting /trading marines from other people armies, though I'm thinking that it would be neat to do a "Legion of the Damned" approach so I could actually play with them (I think that's the right unit, isn't it?) Paint the head and half the body in the original chapter colors & the rest black... I know it's supposed to be all black, but at least my way enough of the figure is in the chapter colors that it shows the original gamer's work off a little bit.

Just a thought...

I believe the current tactical squad set has 2 or 3 beakies. I much prefer the beakies

I'm in for the exchange if you allow SM chapters of original design. othewise I have to consider my original Badab war concepts. And in retrospect, you have all the beakies now!

Irony - thou I can do them with our helmets.

Git - LotD would be nifty, if quite tricky. LOTS of converson work, plus doesn't quite match some of the fluff and theories out there
SL - I'd be game for Homebrew as long as others are game for my boring DA and BA!

We may have to get a seperate blog goin before we jack Gits to death, lol.

I really like your Mantis Warriors and you've painted the camo patterns really well on the vets. Your dreadnoughts are great and after reading through 21 pages I felt I should make a comment It's also nice to see another person who thinks logically about their army and it's fluff. I'm looking forward to seeing your corrupt Mantis Warrior.

Keep up the outstanding work.

Yours

Gathering Storm

Amazing dread and snipers. Keep it up!

@SLion: I can return beakies or beakie parts for you whenever you need them, no worries. Conversely you can do a build and trade like Styro and I are doing, that way you just use your own materials to build and paint a fully completed model to trade.

@WM: Starting a separate thread might not be a bad idea. I don't mind the discussion on my thread at all, but I suspect this may get a life of it's own and need it's own space... question is where... in the swap shop? Should ask a mod. I volunteer...... YOU ...to work on the project!

@GatheringStorm: Thanks for taking the time to plow through the whole blog. I'm glad you spoke up. Welcome and please feel free to chime in whenever you've got something to add.

When this thread started I did a lot of research into the Badab Wars and actually went out, purchased, and read all of the current books with Mantis Warriors in them. I really enjoyed some of the fluff on the Space Sharks and some of the other chapters. If you're creating traitor unit or just a unit from the 4 chapters, I'd love to contribute. I don't even need to trade anything, I just like the idea.

Gee, thanks. I'll start on it tonite, Ive got the late shift at work.

I work night shift and have just finished reading every page of this blog! and i love it, I myself enjoy rarely used chapters and was contemplating MW but decided to do some Exorcists instead :-) but now I think i might research and find some more strange chapters to use as your models are great and have inspired me to do another SM army, it's time to shelve the kroot mercs for a while. please keep up the great work and i'll be following closely

Git-- nope. I can make do. I rather see you work out the current direction with your mantis warriors using them.

On another note. Years ago I stated collecting mini's for a project called the " The Company of the Dead " In brief this was a SM army made up of marines of any chapter. The catch was that they had all been slain and reanimated by some science/technology. The intent was to play it using current SM rules. Very much an art project , but allowed me to paint other cool chapters colors, do some conversions/battle damage and use figures from all different era's.
As I don't want to hijack git' s thread - ping me privately if you want to hear more.





Automatically Appended Next Post:
now onto more serious projects.. when do we git to see the WIP on the ven. dread?

@nerdfest09: Glad you took the time, welcome! It's a beast isn't it? It's nice that something in all those pages lit a fire under you... I'm sure if you approach your project with passion and dedication, you'll inspire others as well.

@Solar_lion: When I cycle back to it. It'll be the next dread I do after I repaint this one (the LC dread). The Venerable needs a bit of work yet... not entirely satisfied with the assault drill arm fit on the body. Shouldn't be a major project, just a minor adjustment. I'll begin work on the LC dread tonight so we can get this show on the road... I just ran outta gas last night (think I went to be before the kids did).

I hate gettin' old...

I got the Marine swap PM Blog up and goin, so make sure you post your pics in there for any of them being traded!
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/305404.page

Cool, will check it out!

dude mantsis warriors are so awesome

Indeed.

Asherian Command wrote:dude mantsis warriors are so awesome

lolz, that is so true!

@asherian & iron spectre: Thank you both, I am quite fond of them too!

Well, we're having a night of heavy weather and the satellite Internet is already toast. However the phone still works so at least I can make a report. I did indeed start the dread project tonight by assembling the CCW that I wanted. The FW claw. It looks a little on the small side when compaired with the las cannons... But ifi I dress it up a bit with banners & scrolls it should be just fine.

Pics when I can...

GS

Edit: Storm has passed (for now). CCW arm is assembled, primed and washed. Means the real paintin' can commence tomorrow! Yippie! Even magnetized the storm bolter so's I can swap it out for a heavy flamer if the whim strikes me...



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Further update...

After giving it some thought, I've decided to flip around the CCWs on the two dreads. I was going to put the assault drill on the Venerable (i.e. tranquility sniper dread), but it dawned on the that the claws from the FW clawed arm are very reminiscent of the blades on the T-snipers arms and guns & might be a better visual fit with the Venerable dread... so I'll strip the green off the claw arm and prime and wash the assault drill tonight to go on the LC dread. That is... if we have any electricity by then... tree took out the power lines on the street some time last night.

are you using different magnets on the Dread or multiples?

Well, these dread arms still have the posts and sockets (unlike the autocannons) so I don't have the magnetize the actual arms, I'm just magnetizing the guns under the CCW. 1/16" rare earth magnet seem to have plenty of holding power.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Progress for the night:

Exchanged the CCW arms of both dreadnoughts.

First, the regular dread, now with the assault drill and a magnetized heavy flamer. I also had to sneak magnets into the CCW arm and the post on the dread because the earlier work on the arm for the venerable dread had rendered it unable to stay on the post without help. Still kept the post on the dread in-tact though, so I can switch out the assault drill with a non-magnetized arm if I want to. I will eventually get a magnetized storm bolter to fit into the spot under the arml, just didn't have time tonight. I used a very old school heavy flamer... think it was originally supposed to fit flush up against the hull of some vehicle, but with a little bit of trimming I think it works rather nicely under the drill.


Then, the venerable with claw arm... with magnetized storm bolter. As above, will eventually get a heavy flamer rigged for that spot.

*pssst thats not how the storm bolter is supposed to go one a FW dred*

Its a shame a beaky helmet can't fit in the venerable's head slot.

whalemusic360 wrote:*pssst thats not how the storm bolter is supposed to go one a FW dred*

Oh I see.... close to the body. Well, my way it's easier to swap it out for the heavy flamer *and* that arm is a little thin looking when compared with the rest of the model, so the weapon mount helps flesh it out a bit.

I'm surprised neither of you mentioned the old heavy flamer conversion... I thought that was pretty slick.

I lurve that hf conversion, not to sound like I'm just jumping on the battle/band wagon.

It does look quite good in there, I just hate the old style flamer. Looks like some sort of crazy blaster gun *pew pew*

Looks good! You should do dome space sharks too, just for fun

Those are looking really good...
And as to the space marine exchange program, i think its really cool, and i might be tempted to join...

So your doing working pistons for the drop pod ramp/doors?

Yep, going to have the doors split at the bend, have the bottom part go down like the ramp it's supposed to be, but the upper part will rise straight up, that way when I field them they can stay on the table because the stupid hatch doors won't be getting in everyone's way... should have a very small footprint.

I actually kinda like the "footprint" of a drop pod. Even though I ignore the doors and even leave a few up sometimes, I like that it comes in a BAM big friggin thing in the table

I agree, but at least around here nobody ever models them open, or half the time even models them fully (they just put out the doorless skeleton) because the doors are such an impediment to gaming. So my plan is to have the ramps come down as you would expect, then the rest of the door swings up out of the way. I'll probably just pin them in place initially, but eventually I'd like to include a piston on each door for the sake of completeness.

Got the basics of the re-paint on the dread done. Next, the extras and details...

Is that reverse highlighting? Darker at the edges and lighter in the middle of the plates?

Sweet , i love this chapter its hardly ever seen done right .

Arakasi wrote:Is that reverse highlighting? Darker at the edges and lighter in the middle of the plates?

Yes, and don't ask my why I did it that way... I have no idea, but they're all done like that. On the bigger plates though, there is a fine light line along the edge. They don't look quite right if the angles of the plates are dark too, so I do a bit of edge highlighting which seem's to pull everything together.


Thanks slann, I hope I continue to do it right... that's the plan anyway...


I has an interesting idea for my Vanguard model that I'm going to make for Styro in trade for the cool, Boondock Saints inspired objective marker that he's making me. I want to do one of my "mantis armed" Vanguard assault marines delivering a flying bushido kick, one leg and mantis sword extended, the other pulled back in the ready position... waiting to strike. It'll involve a lot of cutting and pasting of plastic parts and some fancy basing... but I think I can do it. I'll probably put the WIP over on the blog for his piece so people can see them develop together.

For the head you should do some mandables on a beaky, maybe use some SE spikes for it.

The Reverse highlighting is excellent, I'm also looking forward to the red corsair/mantis warrior WIP.

It looks pretty cool! cant wait to see the venerable dread and the long-anticipated MoTF

@whalemusic: Dagnabbit!! Will you stop sharing my brain! I only have one and I already share that one with my wife... there's precious little to spread around any further...

@Finch: Thanks my friend... the WIP will be forthcoming as soon as I scrounge up a few chaos bits.

@pie: I'm actually going to work on the venerable next... a bit out of order but circumstances being what they are it got pushed up the chain. Might have something worth showing by Thursday.



And here is the much anticipated dreadnought re-paint... Brother Crasus. Still have one or two minor details to attend to... (like actually connecting the lascannon banner to something solid), but for all intents and purposes... it's finished.

LOL, I was going to do it to one of your guys, but thought it may work better for chaos. Still think it could work for yours as well.

Very nice Brother!

Thank you Sir! Nice to have another one out of the way. The list of "completes" is slowly growing...

Its weird... I really enjoy your painting, probably because your good at it. Sweet dread.

yes...Weird Now I have to go fix my dread again... curses, your dam inspiration.

I love your scroll, with new Paragraphs having a different colors. Something that should have been so obivious to me. DOH!

this is really well painted and converted

Very nice work on the dread git. What's next on the plans?

Good job at covering all the crap up on the base. I thought they were cool when I got my 1st one, but they get old quick.

i think the reverse highlighting is awesome. just one quick question though. Where did you get those scrolls? they look fantastic.

So many questions to answer from my poor I-phone... please forgive if I don't referr to everyone by name, too much typing.

First of all... thanks!!

Next is the venerable (rifleman) dread.

First letters inspired by medieval manuscripts. I may try some type of primitive illumination eventually.

I just buy random collections of banners and upgrades off eBay... I have a whole box of them to sort through. I just pick the ones that fit the space & run with it. Worse comes to worse I can make them from green stuff, but so far I haven't had to do that.

I love that scroll work! You make me green with envy.

Munch Munch! wrote:I love that scroll work! You make me green with envy.

Really? I mean.....REALLY? A green joke? Really? Son, I'm dissapoint.

whalemusic360 wrote:

Munch Munch! wrote:I love that scroll work! You make me green with envy.

Really? I mean.....REALLY? A green joke? Really? Son, I'm dissapoint.

I'm surprised it took this long for one. But now that that's past us.

warriors of mayhem wrote:

whalemusic360 wrote:

Munch Munch! wrote:I love that scroll work! You make me green with envy.

Really? I mean.....REALLY? A green joke? Really? Son, I'm dissapoint.

I'm surprised it took this long for one. But now that that's past us.

I don't know what your saying...

Mantis Warrior terminator pad greens are IN!!! THANK YOU CHAPTERHOUSE !!


Love these....

You got the GS one?

Well, I don't *have* anything yet, save the photos of the designs... but just having the designs is pretty exciting because they can now move on to the next phase (molding and casting).

Ahhh I see. I'm also going to be a CH customer next payday. New DA pads and the Chapalin head pushed me over the edge.

Can you show me a pic of the chap. head? Also, sorry 'bout the green joke. I couldn't resist.

http://chapterhousestudios.com/webshop/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=99&category_id=15

Thanx.

I think I got about 3 or 4 of those with my last CH order... no bloody idea what I'm going to do with them, but they were too cool to pass up.

Those pads look pretty cool. The mantis design is awesome

Pretty cool indeed. The Dread is looking sweeet! Don't know how I could have missed this.

Give a comment... receive a comment. Check out my Blog. Link in Sig.

Those pads are awesome. You can never have too many chains.

Pads...

Update: was wiring on the dread while traveling for work, when the table lamp fell ON my dread, smashing it into several pieces. Luckily it broke apart at the joints and is repairable. Hope to have a photo of progress in a day or two.

Also been working on marine for swap with styrofoam... going well so far. No pics due to storm taking out home Internet (stupid satellite dish). Only have phone access to dakka.


GS

Friggin' assassin lamps

Yeah, darn them!

Assasin's Creed III: Rise of the Lamps

pie_2054 wrote:Assasin's Creed III: Rise of the Lamps

I lol'd

very nice stuff. probably the badab heresy chapters never get enough attention so well done

Like the assassins creed thing.

Thanks moonshine. I agree, but all the more glory for those of us who pursue them eh?

Still no real Internet, but I'll soldier on & keep working in hopes eventually having something to show and a way to show it.





___________________________________________________________________________

Automatically Appended Next Post:

I hope this posts as a new message...

I need some advice.

So, I'm working on my Venerable (rifleman) dreadnought painted in the tranquility sniper pattern (yellow). Got the base yellow and wash done, then I work my way blending up for the reverse highlighting... not rocket science. Here's the quandary... In real vehicles that are camo'd (at least modern ones), they camo everything... barrels included for obvious reasons. I started doing the hoses and barrels like I normally would, with a black base coat to be "metallicized" later. But now I'm thinking that perhaps I shouldn't do that, instead, go with full camo like on a real military vehicle.

My quandary is that a fully camo'd figure will be very visually boring & lack the contrast to really give it impact.

I have several options as I see it:

1. Go with full camo, and pick out the details, edges, etc. with subtle but different colors in hopes that it provides enough visual interest. Look at my existing snipers... I tried to do them this way (more-or-less).
2. Since the camo pattern is rather stark (yellow and black), I could do the other parts (barrels, hoses, etc) in plain black...and just run with the contrast & not worry about if it works as camo or not.
3. I could paint the black areas some other color.... not black, not the camo yellow... perhaps a buff or leather of some sort... something that provides contrast without blowing the camo effect clear out of the water.
4. ????

I'm kind of stuck so would greatly appreciate everyone's opinions on the matter. Please give your reasoning too... as you know from reading this blog, logic is a major motivator in my decision making process.

Many thanks!

GS

Option 2 for me... With a twist : for lascannons, for instance, paint the "shoulder" and "muzzles" in camo, then barrel & details in black : that should prove enough for contrast!

The main vehicle armament is usually camo'ed indeed, but extra weaponry (such as .50 machine guns, or smoke launchers) often comes unpainted...

Plus I tend to see Dreads are large foot soldiers, and most soldiers don't (or aren't allowed) to paint their weapons!!!

Eventually, from my current point of view (which can change from time to time), having some sharp contrast on the mini is better than trying to stick to what it would be in "real" life (well, in "real" 40k Universe) and have it look boring & dull...

Just my opinion anyway uh!!!

I'd echo the above ideas. Go for what is the most visually striking (option 2, imo), not what makes the most sence in real world applications. If you were doing an Imp Gaurd Leman Russ in Vietnam Tiger Stripe, I'd say do it all, but as the tranq pattern isnt what I'd call a "true" camo pattern, I'd treat it more as a color scheme for your veterans (like bone white for Deathwing, Gold for Sang Guard, etc)

Gitsplitta wrote:My quandary is that a fully camo'd figure will be very visually boring & lack the contrast to really give it impact.

Sort of the point, no? I would go for how you started (which you didn't list as an option) - agreeing with Yggdrasil (his comment, not his preference!):

Yggdrasil wrote:Eventually, from my current point of view (which can change from time to time), having some sharp contrast on the mini is better than trying to stick to what it would be in "real" life (well, in "real" 40k Universe) and have it look boring & dull...

It's my only complaint (just a minor one) with your Mantis Warriors really too

the dreadnuaght i wouldnt think that it would be blazed in the chapter colors and not camoed. because the spacemarine hero inside would want to be a source of insperition and pride for his brothers.besides a big hulking machine would have a hard time being stealthy and sneaky its just my thoughts i really like how your MW are coming along Gitsplitta

Arakasi wrote:

Gitsplitta wrote:My quandary is that a fully camo'd figure will be very visually boring & lack the contrast to really give it impact.

Sort of the point, no? I would go for how you started (which you didn't list as an option) - agreeing with Yggdrasil (his comment, not his preference!):

Yggdrasil wrote:Eventually, from my current point of view (which can change from time to time), having some sharp contrast on the mini is better than trying to stick to what it would be in "real" life (well, in "real" 40k Universe) and have it look boring & dull...

It's my only complaint (just a minor one) with your Mantis Warriors really too

@Arakasi: Not sure I follow where your preference lies... You mean paint the autocannons as I painted the sniper rifles (silver barrels, yellow muzzle and shields)? Please let me know. Though you are correct, there isn't much contrast in the snipers beyond the camo pattern itself... which is pretty stark. When I get beyond the tranquility pattern, the normal rank-and-file will hopefully be a bit more visually diverse. There will also be more color variation when I get my shoulderpads in from Chapterhouse.... have an interesting twist for those that should add a needed spot of color.

Thanks all, my path is clear.... I'll get back to work and get a WIP shot up ASAP so you can provide further commentary & guidance.

Gitsplitta wrote:I started doing the hoses and barrels like I normally would, with a black base coat to be "metallicized" later.

This is my personal preference

i'd go with painting the entire thing camo and leaving no metalics or details at all except black scannar unit (to represent they've been tinted or turned of as not to have the lights spotted)
btw you could even stick grass to the top of the dread like modern armies add netting and leaves to the top of their vehicles

I think ultimately tread the path between pseudo-realism and looking good. One thing you could do is an option (4): totally different camo. They're dreads - they're ancient - even more variety.

Now you tell me....


Actually, the idea with this dread specifically is that he was one of the tranquility snipers, mortally wounded & encased in dreadnought armor and still seeking to serve his old unit. Thus is painted appropriately.

However, I just got an Iron Clad from my chillins for my birthday... so he's unique enough that I can go way off the reservation with him if I choose. BUT.... I'd need a reason *and* a decent scheme. What would an *ancient* mantis warrior dread look like? Something even older then the venerable.... perhaps a survivor from the days of the chapter's founding. Stretch your brains my friends... find an alpha-pattern iron clad paint scheme for the Mantis Warriors!

well firstly you could use a very bleachy green and take the protective plates of also you could add some wires hanging out everywhere. also add a tone of purity seals. if ye good at converting maybe you could use parts from the pentint engine

Maybe a nice rich brown color, like how manti get when they get older, but before they die (morbid I know), but for the ancient look it may work.

I like WhaleMusic's idea. I mean, you never see brown marines!

I think you should change it up a bit and maybe go with a slightly upgraded dreadnought camo design, stick with the yellow but add a little something else.

Perhaps more like a Mantis Warrior...................... in a lingerie store?

LIKE SO!

Hmmmm... quartering does present some interesting possibilities... though I'd mentally taken whalemusic's idea down an interesting direction too. Let me think about it... and keep those ideas coming!

you could go with a metalic yellow and some hand paint iconography

What the hell did you do to that poor SH Termi Ice?!?!

whalemusic360 wrote:What the hell did you do to that poor SH Termi Ice?!?!

lol, i didn't do anything. A couple months ago I had a discussion with a good friend of mine about what would be the most obnoxious marine color scheme and that was what we came up with. He painted up that terminator and it's probably about 80% done in that picture, but it looks great, IMO. All of this talk about yellow marines made me think of it.

As for your dreadnought Git I think you should work on the body of it first because you know what that will look like, and then see what feels right as you do the guns. I think most of the options people are posting would easily work and look great. I personally like the gun tips in yellow and the barrels black. It would look cool to have camo gun tips.

whalemusic360 wrote:What the hell did you do to that poor SH Termi Ice?!?!

Make it stop!!!!!!!!!!

I thinks this chapter gene seed needs to be re-tested!

Shiny, polished metal would be right out for the weapons on the rifle dread- but perhaps a metallic black (not nmm, but a mix of black ink and something like mithril) would provide an interesting contrast, help pick out the weapons visually, but also not depart too much from the color scheme of the dread?

In case you haven't been following the "Great Marine Swap" thread... here's my progress on Styrofoam04's chaos Mantis Warrior...

Meet Benedictus. A member of the vanguard and liaison officer to the Tiger Claws during the Badab War. He was corrupted by chaos during that time and fled with the Tiger Claws (now Red Corsairs). The final model will have a Chapterhouse pre-herasy jump pack and a chaos shoulder pad on the cybernetic arm (left), and one of my original free-hand mantis warrior pads on the right arm. Depicted in a flying Bushido kick (the right leg is actually bent at a sharp angle to simulate the leap, you just can't see it from this angle).

I wanted him to be a little chaossy but not over the top. He's not a traditional chaos marine, as with the Red Corsairs... having "turned" relatively recently (100 yrs or less). Since the original Mantis Warrior badge had large mandibles, I've included them in the build. I figure things like chainswords would wear out, so I used chaos swords instead of imperial models. He has one cybernetic arm and on that shoulder will be a chaos pad, as if he'd lost an arm in a battle and had to repace it (and the equipment) with what was at hand.

It's a really rough build at this point, but will get more refined in short order.







I had to put him on a 40mm base (termie sized), tried and just could not make the "leap" plausible on a smaller base. The Chapterhouse jump pack is built and fitted, but I'm kinda hung up until I get the shoulder pads I need, which may not happen until some time next week (why is it so complicated to get a simple chaos shoulder pad?) Getting the MW pad on the right arm is going to be a lot more complicated that I originally planned for as there is so little space in there, a standard pad won't fit. I'll have to cut one down considerably and then come up with some kind of plausable reason for the size change... some kind of battle damage I expect. I also need tow work on the mantis arm joints to make them plausible, but I think that's a pretty straight-forward job. He looks good with the jump pack on (very cool design), really anxious to finish the build so I can start painting.

I also want to spend some time working on the base so I can disguise that flying support rod a bit. I'll have to talk with Styro about what kind of things would be appropriate for him to be leaping over. He'll do the flocking so that it matches the rest of his army, but I figure I can add a little interest to the base without messing up the feel of his unit.

Lastly... there is method to the madness of the pose. This is actually my second prototype for what will become my Vanguard (I guess Goto calls them the "Mantidae" in his stories.) The double chainswords are supposed to resemble the primary hunting limbs of the preying mantis, and will (eventually) be connected by cables to the arm armor. As the arm extends, so does the "arm of the mantis" as I call them. As the arm bends, so does the mantis arm. Very intuitive, very practical. You'll note that the chainsaw teeth are specifically set so that it pulls the victim forward and down. This prevents the saws from binding and puts the victim in a very vulnerable position (face down on the ground). The normal versions of this will be integral to the actual arms of the marines (see earlier prototype), but I figure Benedictus here has been away from his chapter a long while without access to the Mantis Warriors STC or techs, so the Corsair's have made him as close an approximation of the original gear as best they could.

I may have reccomended a wire to hold him up (I use paperclips cut up) rather then the flying peg. Looks promising tho, keep it up!

Yeah, nice pose (maybe a bit too "flashy" for me, but don't worry, I'll get over it lol)...

As for the Red Corsairs, I reckon they were Astral Claws before turning renegade...

They were Tiger Claws in the earliest versions of the fluff and for some reason for changed to Astral Claws later.

As such, I always accept the first answer, so Tiger Claws is correct!

Automatically Appended Next Post:
how about this i worked on it for most of the morning i think its unique and has visual contrast and matches your theme

Oh come on! You've got issues with 18" diameter plasticine rod soved up his kazoo??!! This is a fraternal brotherhood after all....


I could replace it with a wire easily enough. Once he's painted I could even probably take it through his foot in order to minimize the visual impact... but I just didn't think I could display the fig (even the WIP) properly unless he was suspended as I'd originally intended. I must admit that I haven't gotten the type of response I was hoping for with him though... so I must be missing the mark. I was hoping for a more feral, all-out-attack feeling (being a chaosified MW) than could be accomplished with a more sedate pose.

sweet, go with the wire. based off of the pose he needs to have some Air between his feet.

As he is having a jump pack, could you add some 'vfx' smoke and flames coming out of them and hide the wire inside that ?

@vignor: Interesting idea.... I'll add it to the possibilities that I'll consider. Never thought of adding limb blades to the dread though... that is definitely a keeper of an idea. Thank you! I think I'd go with the bigger blades like on the right forearm of the marines... I have some ork choppa's that could be modified to the task pretty easily.

@StubbyGB: I actually thought about using two of the plastic supports, one coming from each jump pack jet and going down to the base where I'd do a bit of whirling, swirling smoke. I think I could putt that off. I could wash the plastic rods a bit with black to give them a smokey/jet exhaust appearance. I also thought about getting a couple of armorcast's flamer effects & putting those in the jets... but I didn't want to get too over-the-top & distract from the figure itself.

He's a Venerable Dread, right? So, not only has he seen a lot of fighting, but he's also been repaired before.

I think it would look neet to do most of him up iin your camo color scheme, but have an arm or leg done in boltgun/silver with details in tin bitz/brass/gold, and some battle damage where the arm and/or leg connects to make it look like your dread was just repaired but had to be re-fielded before the work was complete. Maybe even model something like an incomplete wire connection.

Anyway, it's just a thought, keep up the great work!

Solar_lion wrote:

whalemusic360 wrote:What the hell did you do to that poor SH Termi Ice?!?!

Make it stop!!!!!!!!!!

I thinks this chapter gene seed needs to be destroyed!

fix'd

Couldn't stand to be this close without seeing the final form. Here is the build with a proxy mechanicus pad in for the chaos one (left arm). Everything is temporarily tacked in place with green stuff.

I really like it!

Tasty biscuits. Maybe we should start a separate great miniature trade blog?

That's what Styro did for his swap with me... I just post this here as well since it technically is a Mantis Warrior *and* is another prototype possibility for my Vanguard. I work so slowly though...

On a side note I think his lead foot is a little big, will probably trim that puppy down a bit 'ere I finish.

We DO have a seperate mini trade blog........

Yes of course, but I don't want to clutter that up with the various stages of the process... maybe one build shot and one final shot to encourage others to participate. I figured that was more of a meeting place & final show-off place than are real WIP for dozens of trades. But... I'm OK either way.

I'd be fine if it had WIPs form a bunch of people. It is a PM blog after all.

Works for me... I'll move my WIPs for the exchanges over there... though if anyone wants to start a specific WIP blog for our exchange, I'd happily double-post.

I agree, the WIP has help me learn to be a better painter as well as a source of inspiration. Unfortunately cannot show WM’s trade as the camera I use does not take very clean close pics.

Been pretty preoccupied trying to get my first swap done, but I have at least done something for my dreadnought. As you've seen, I'm a big fan of hanging banners/scrolls from my dreads. There are a lot of really neat banners out there, but they are the same few styles... especially limited are styles of large banners. So to prevent my dreads from all looking the same, I've started making my own banners out of green stuff. I've made a large hanging banner, similar in size to the one hanging off the assault cannon on the first dread I re-painted, to hang off the left autocannon on the venerable. My banners are definitely directional as I always like the one's with a lot of wind motion in them as they add action to an otherwise pretty static figure.

If folks want to see what it looks like in it's "raw" stage, I'd be happy to post a pic. They are very easy to make and the design possibilities are endless.

Do it! (post a pic of "raw" stage that is )

I sceond Arakasi's notion!

Easy enough.

All I did is take a wad of green stuff, smash it into a rough rectangle with my fingers, then use a wet paint brush handle to roll it out into a sheet. I then carefully lifted it off the rolling surface with a hobby knife and let the sheet dry over night. The next day I took the hobby knife and cut a rectangle out of the sheet, though I left the bottom irregular as I thought it made for a nice, torn looking banner bottom. I then added angles and cuts with a knife, and finally pressed a tiny little chain (which you can get from model railroad supply companies very cheaply) into the green stuff to act as the hanger. Darn near anything would do though. Finally I twisted it up a bit, like it was furling in the wind & gave it a definite flow to indicate wind direction (or movement). Thicker sheets are harder to do this with... this one was actually pretty thin so it was easy to make look wind-blown. After twisting I let it set for another day/half day (i.e. the next morning). It's still flexible but is essentially cured now.

As you can see it's been filed on and nicked up... but that'll all disappear with painting. Not counting the drying time it took a grand total of about 3 minutes, and you can make it any size, shape or condition that you want.



You could do a much fancier attachment between the banner and chain if you wanted to, I'm just lazy & figured where this will be no one would notice anyway. When you attach it you can either leave the chain loose... which is cool because then the figure actually HAS motion rather than just implied motion. Conversely, hang it while the chain is loose & then with a toothpick apply just a bit of super glue along the length of the chain. This locks the chain in place, but your banner will still hang naturally at the nadir of the curve. If you use regular super glue to attach the chain in the first place, be careful! A chain this small will wick the glue right along it's length and lock it in a split second, no matter where you are in the hanging process.

Gitsplitta wrote: So, I'm working on my Venerable (rifleman) dreadnought painted in the tranquility sniper pattern (yellow). I started doing the hoses and barrels like I normally would, with a black base coat to be "metallicized" later. But now I'm thinking that perhaps I shouldn't do that, instead, go with full camo like on a real military vehicle.

I have several options as I see it:

1. Go with full camo, and pick out the details, edges, etc. with subtle but different colors in hopes that it provides enough visual interest. Look at my existing snipers... I tried to do them this way (more-or-less).

2. Since the camo pattern is rather stark (yellow and black), I could do the other parts (barrels, hoses, etc) in plain black...and just run with the contrast & not worry about if it works as camo or not.

3. I could paint the black areas some other color.... not black, not the camo yellow... perhaps a buff or leather of some sort... something that provides contrast without blowing the camo effect clear out of the water.

I'd go with a 90% camo pattern. You want it to *look* "full camo", but 40k-specific details to pick out easily.

1. Start with a "full camo" base model. Then add Insignia in full, bold color. Show hoses, cables, exhaust stacks, lights, lenses, and weapon ends (gun barrels) in full color for contrast. It makes the gaming aspect much clearer, while still driving home that it's a "full camo" model.

2. I'd still metalize, as it looks "better", by adding more interest to the model. You should wash it with black to tone the harsness down a bit.

3. not necessary, unless you're adding camo tarp. You can do something on the base for color / shape / texture contrast, tho.

4. Do whisper-thin "hard" edge highlights, pure blacklining, and deep edging so the rest of the model "pops".

Very sound advice John, thanks! I like your reasoning.

... I also have always enjoyed your avatars by-the-way... they keep me from falling asleep in front of my computer. ...

Glad to help!

Finally got a chance to peel myself away from the marine swap project and get a little work done on the dreadnought.

Yellow primer and sepia wash gets me my base color, will work the yellow up from there. Now I'm just picking out all of the metallic and/or black areas in black. This also helps define the yellow spaces for me later. You might see here why I seriously considered leaving things like the gun barrels black... contrast looks sweet with the yellow.

The black barrels do look good, but you're not playing Imp Fists.

I think, once you get the camo done, you can use some dark / black washes over the metallic to get to a near-black barrel to contrast against a near-yellow camo.

Awesome!

Is that the yellow army painter stuff?

Looks like it, I've used some myself. Nice work, the Sepia does a neat job of Shading that Yellow. I'll bear that in mind for future Projects, perhaps.

Yeah, I'm using the Army Painter primers a lot lately, I use the green for the regular mantis warriors and the yellow for both my Bad Moons and the Sternguard/Tranquility Snipers.

I really like the yellow primer shaded with the sepia, gives it a very warm, earthy tone which works great for the final color for the bad moons and gives a nice starting point for the tranquility color scheme.

Very neat work!

Very nice!

Very cool, and i think it looks awesome

I think we need to see a few drop pod design now

Let me finish this dread and I'll do a pod next. I've given up having anything done for the fall tournament series so I can pick and choose what I wish.

Hehe my planet BTW is shaping up a bit, getting the new Codex in a few days, then I will have to post some art and descriptions before I launch into the project.

Sounds good thegrav... look forward to seeing it!

Don't forget to give us a link to the blog!

On being a DCM...


Couple of friends of mine have asked me over the last few weeks about what I got out of being a DCM... and another teasingly called me "hard core" when he found out (which is hilarious because he plays more 40k games in a week than I play in 3 months). Got me thinking that I might put my thoughts on the topic down on the blog. No preaching... no "you should all go do this" message. Just my personal thoughts on the matter.

Being a DCM (dakka contributing member) does not get you a pile of extras. You get to pick your own "profession" tag ("Grotzooka Fodder" in my case) and it gets you access to a separate area of the forum called the "DCM Mosh Pit"... witch is a mix of off & on topic stuff (basically whatever you want) that can be very amusing at times. You get a little bit of "instant cred" with the other DCMs for ponying up a few bucks... but that really only lasts until you open your yap and prove yourself to be a complete blow-hard, then you're back to square one. As far as perks though... that's about it.

What *I* get out of being a DCM, is satisfaction of knowing that for $25/year... which lets face it is chump change in this hobby... I get to support something that has vastly increased the enjoyment that both me and my kids have in our primary hobby together. It's helped me reconnect with old friends, and helped me make new ones. My gaming has improved as has my painting and modeling... all due to the social network that is dakka. To me... that's worth $25. We all help by contributing content... but I can afford to do a little bit more, so I do.


Just my thoughts... thought I'd share them with you.

__________________________________________________

Just thought I'd post this for fun...


I've made a small but very important bit of progress on the chaos MW for the marine swap project. Because if the way the model fits together, I can't do the final assembly until I finish painting the Mantis Warrior shoulder pad... so I did that last night (as well as starting the process of "greening up" the rest of the figure). I haven't painted one of these by hand in probably 15 years. Ain't any easier, that's for sure.

Here 'tis. Might try to crisp up some of the edges with yellow, but this is so small I may just count my blessings and leave it the way it is. It looks good a normal (non-magnified) viewing distance.



If I'm going to keep doing work this small, I'm going to need a stronger lens on my optivisor... I guess you can get an idea of scale from the size of the stitches in the fabric (it's the same blue my other figures are pictured against). This is one of the original plastic beakie shoulder pads that I hollowed out so it would fit on the arm, then made the disc out of green stuff (consistent with the original GW Mantis Warrior insignia). I guess what's kind of neat about this is that is is probably the last version of this insignia that I'll ever do, as Chapterhouse is making me my own version in both normal and terminator pads. So doing this simple, little thing is very nostalgic.

Good to keep a piece of history Git.

Looks absolutely amazing. I tend to go slightly insane if I'm painting freehand that small. I find it quite inspiring that that was the norm for your Mantis Warriors and that you managed to repeat it on several occasions.

Keep up the good work.

I'm also looking forward to seeing your Chaos Mantis completed.

He's getting close... made a lot of progress tonight. Hope to have something significant to show later this evening. I think he looks pretty damn good. If Styro doesn't want him... I'll keep him.

What I didn't mention is that I didn't actually paint it... I used the little pens that I use to make the writing on the purity seals (I got a full set with all colors). It worked pretty well, but I did have to tidy the edges up with yellow a bit to account for slight changes in pen pressure. However in the old days I did versions of this pretty much this good with a brush... *sigh* back when I could see.

You may have used a pen but the hand-eye coordination required to draw a design on something so small is quite astounding. I'll try and set my self a target to paint some free hand as good as yours...

Good luck with the rest of the project.

Yours

Gathering Storm

Thanks GatheringStorm... I appreciate the support. You're almost making me feel guilty that I'm having Chapterhouse make me cast shoulder pads.... almost.


Progress on my figure for Styrofoam04. To recap... a "tainted" Mantis Warrior vanguard. Basic paint is done. Still have lots of details to do and the base of course. Camera is set wrong and I haven't had the patience to read the book to figure out how to re-set it so these will have to do for now.

GS .... um.... the *other* GS...

Coming along very nicely.

Love the pose!

That actually looks supurb.

Wow, he looks so cool. IMHO, with the model painted it seems to be a lot less noticible that their is a perspex rod rammed up his ***, because of the vivid green (I think).

Don't want to double/triple post my progress but minus the basing and a few details, the chaos MW is effectively done. You can see my progress on page 3 of Styro's blog...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/60/305150.page#1813535


Also, did you know that it's impossible to stay mad at a cute little black kitten when she's mewing and cooing at your feet, jumps into your lap while you're painting, knocks over your bottle of badab black wash with her tail, then swishes her "washed" tail into you covering your face and clothes with wash? (the whole time cooing and nuzzling)

Too cute to live...

Friggin cats.

So cute lah...

THE CATS! THEY'RE TAKING OVER THE WORLD WITH THEIR CUTENESS! AAAAAAAAH!

in other words, the chaos mantis warrior looks great. He looks SO much better painted. BTW, i saw on your other blog that you fielded your MoTF. Is he done? can we see pictures if so?

MORE MORE MORE!!! (i cant talk - i only paint like one model in two weeks sometimes but pretty please paint more )

It's coming guys... this week is going to be tough to make any progress... wife is out of town on business, parents are coming to visit and kids and I have 2 or 3 nights that are booked for their activities, oh, and a 40k b-day party on Sat that I'll have to do some painting for. But... late at night, when I get the chance... I promise to work diligently on my figs (chaos MW & ven dread).


Automatically Appended Next Post:


A lunch time trip to my FLGS and I can now make near infinite numbers of sniper barrels and suppressors... and so can you! Don't know about world-wide, but most US hobby shops (read "hobby"... NOT "GW") usually have a little display of metal bits (rods and tubes & sheets) from a company called K&S. These are invaluable in a wide variety of hobbies, even used them in my jewelry business. As a result, I just picked up enough piano wire and brass tubing to make a legion's worth of sniper rifle goodies (barrel and suppressor... maybe even scopes) for a grand total of $6 US.

The items are as follows: K&S 1143 (that's the brass tubing I think), and K&S 501 (which I believe is the wire). The tubing is (I think) a little smaller in diameter than the plastic one WM used on his sternguard build. The piano wire fits perfectly snug inside it. Now, I don't have a figure in-hand so there's a bit of conjecture here... but these should work out just perfectly and be really resistant to damage to boot. I'll do some 'sperimentin over the next few days and show the results.

If this works well and you'd like to try it... if you're one of the folks that are already trading marines with me don't bother buying the piano wire, I'll send you some. At least in our store it comes in little bundles of 4 or 5, 2' long pieces... so I could supply all the marine scouts for the Imperium with what I have on hand. It's not worth the shipping to send just the wire, but I'd be happy to add several inches to any other shipment of stuff (until I run out of course). The brass tubing is purchased individually & more expensive (though at $1.50/foot still dirt cheap). Still, for a $3 investment you'd get enough for oh.... 50 sniper rifles? 100?

Done.

Didn't realize it when I was taking pictures but his back foot is standing on an extra clip I put behind the rock wall. He can be repositioned on his post freely so he is entirely suspended above the wall, or not as preferred.

Came out good! Did you get the objectives painted as well?

Nothing's arrived yet. Will work on a couple tonight that I'll build myself.

Well that sucks! Shipped mine on monday, thought it would got there today.

He looks great. The green seems to have turned out really nicely and his base is a great.

I love your work, and especially the green on this marine. It's a very warm and nicely done green, and it certainy got my atention. Keep up the good work.

@WM: Got yours today... thank heavens... looks like almost all the kids will be there. I'll be up until 3 am tonight painting them... but they look great, thanks!

@GS: Thanks! The only thing that is unsatisfying about this figure is that I don't get to flock it. Don't get me wrong... I understand completely that Styro should flock it to match his army/table... but it makes it feel "unfinished" to me.

@Rose: Thanks... took a while to sort that green out... think I ran 6 or 8 test marines before I found the right combo.

Glad they got there, sorry I didnt have time to send more, would loved to strech my objective marker legs. I did a few for my self, they will make their way to the interweb eventually! Hope you, and more importantly the kids, have fun tomorrow!

Saturday!!! Not tomorrow... don't make this any more difficult a task then it has to be!

Lol, sorry. It'll be tomorrow in a few hours.....



THE PRESSURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1i1!!!!!!!!!!

The helmet with the knife is awesome!

Dont know if you have been keeping up with the FW marine news git, but the next IA is supposed to be IA: Badab War. We already know FW has a woody for RS, I suspect we will get several others, maybe some MW goodness (and more people playing your chapter!)

Can you use a few less acronyms please? I don't know what the heck you're talking about...

FW= Forge World
IA = Imperial Armour
MW = Mantis Warriors (who alligned themselves with the Astral Claws in the Babad War)
RS = Red Scorpions (Who fought against the Astral Claws alliance for a time)

For more info on the Babad War see http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Badab_War

Lol, He said the next Imperial armour forgeworld release could be a Badab war supp. As such it would included Mantis Warrior stuff and would undoubtedly result in more Mantis warrior armies.

Oh yes and a very happy birthday to your son, I'm sure he'll have a great day.

Can you imagine the mantis warrior upgrade kits? They'd be really sweet!

wyomingfox & Lennysmash: Thank you for translating. I went to school in Iowa so the IA really threw me off... and what he said sounded exciting which made it all the more frustrating to not be able to translate it!

It would be fun to see more mantis warriors around... but then the wouldn't be MY mantis warriors any more as I'm sure Forge World will do their own take on them. Might be nice models though... expensive to be sure. But, by the same token if there are more people playing them there may be more neat things available for them, which is a good thing. Who knows, might eventually get enough people to put a Badab War team together for Adepticon (which is what I'd really like to do eventually). Though it would be most fun if you had multiple chapters involved (MWs, Lamenters, Astral Claws, etc)

Thanks Len, I'll pass it on!

That would be cool btw what colour scheme do the astral claws have ?

I'm not sure... the only page I have left over from my old RT rule book is the one with the Mantis Warrior on it... don't think the Astral Claws were on the same page. Might be in the Lexicanum though...

As I recall there were 4 chapters involved in the rebellion, so it's a natural for Adepticon.

The red corsairs, MWs, Exicuitionors and Lamenters. There were many other chapters involved in the badab war tho.

During the Badab Wars though aren't the Red corsairs the Astral Claws chapter. They only become the Corsairs after they flee and they become a pirate warband.

Tomato, Chaos tainted Tomato


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, if I find I can make it to adepticon, sign me up for a Badab slot.

haha,

Slightly OT but whats the deal with all the RT era marine camo by the way. I know from git's thread that it occurs in the Badab wars, but is there any RT reference to it outside of the conflict?

I was thinking it might make for an interesting swap piece or objective marker for me.

Anyways! They were hella complicated colors for some reason. Did you see the exicuitioners or Fire Hawks? Crazy stuff there (and yet im intreagued.....)

I think one or two marines would be ok but a whole army? I think you'd quickly go stir-crazy.

Tbh I still love the idea of the rank markings for marines though.

Im already crazy. Couldnt be much worse then robes and all that crap that I do anyways.

Lennysmash wrote:haha,

Slightly OT but whats the deal with all the RT era marine camo by the way. I know from git's thread that it occurs in the Badab wars, but is there any RT reference to it outside of the conflict?

I was thinking it might make for an interesting swap piece or objective marker for me.

If you're talking about Marine camo in general in the RT rulebook it mentions that the Tactica Imperialis says that all units are supposed to use camo, but some Marine chapters didn't like using it so they didn't.

Ok so I could feasibly field a small squad of Corvus vets in camo, excellent. I think I may look it the FW upgrade kits for them.....

..wanders off to plan another pipe dream..

The chapters involved were quite a bit.

Executioners
Lamenters
Mantis Warriors
Astral Claws
Fire Hawks
Marines Errant
Red Scorpions
Minotaurs
Novamarines
Howling Griffons
Star Phantoms
Salamanders
Exorcists
Fire Angels
Space Sharks
Sons of Medusa

@Whalemusic: I just checked lexicanum. You're right, most chapters involved did have complicated schemes.

Oh! Space sharks. I remember those

you forgot Salamanders

You're right. Editing it.

I thought IA was the acronym for Ice Angels. I was really confused for a minute, but I figured it out. lol.

Have you guys been enjoying the forgeworld kits they've been showing pictures of? I like those different bolter patterns they're coming out with, especially the one with the attached chainsword option!

I have about 50 of those left over from my RT days... maybe more. I do like the really early ones though... without the cowl the bolt guns just look kind of weak. But I always did like the "combat blades" of the old days... basically chainsaw bayonets.

There were a lot of chapters in the Badab War, but I think only 4 rebelled.

The last couple of objectives are going nicely... Tau and chaos marines. Had to use white glue in places so I'm waiting for it to dry. The chaos marine one is fairly simple, but I've got a good little story to go with it so I'm sure I can sell it. Thing 1 went down the line and pointed out which objective goes to which friend.

Hope to have more photos later.

@Whalemusic: Hope I didn't butcher the paint job on your objective too badly, it was a fun one to paint with all the little bits in it. Thing 1 picked that one to go to his best friend (Guard player)... I'm sure he won't care about the fact that most of the bits are SM & not Guard.

Glad he dug it! Knew I kept those slightly damaged bits for a reason
If your doing stories behind each marker, my thinking behind that one was that some Space marines of the (insert chapter name) had made a last stand near a damaged homing beacon hoping reinforcements might yet make it through.
The other one was a Tech marine that had found a weapons cache and was calling in for help to get the stuff out of their. Clearly he had addapted some of the tech to "help clear out the tech" aka it was friggin cool! Dont let the assault cannon fall out tho, he looks like hes doin disco

Bit of an update:

1. The Mantis Warrior shoulder pad greens are in Nick's hands at Chapterhouse and he'll be making the molds as soon as he can. The process inches forward... but I have so many other things to paint that waiting has been no problem (other than being anxious & excited about the project of course).

2. After spending most of the last month painting my marine swap project and the objectives markers for Thing 1's birthday party, I've decided to treat myself to a little time working on my own project. The Venerable Dreadnought project will be getting my full attention until it's completion.

3. Will start the process of building for my next marine swap... a "bug boy" for Arakasi... that is an ork storm boy nob who "thinks" that he's a Mantis Warrior vanguard. I'm pulling together bits and pieces for the project now... it's going to be a challenge... but should be really fun too. Unlike Arakasi, I'm not smart enough to make two of them so I can keep one for myself... but I think it's highly likely that I'll eventually make one (or more) of them for my storm boyz squad. Actually, if I can find enough parts... I make make my whole storm boyz squad "bug boyz"... we'll see.


So, in a day or two I hope to have some photos of progress on the venerable for you. I'm really jazzed about it after seeing how well it worked when combined with the sternguard (as a screen) during the game at the birthday party. Really motivates me to finish both it and the sternguard.

Glad to see the MW get some time Git, they really are a great army.

Lennysmash wrote:Slightly OT but whats the deal with all the RT era marine camo by the way. I know from git's thread that it occurs in the Badab wars, but is there any RT reference to it outside of the conflict?

SMs in Camo was a RT-era thing, before GW really figured out what they wanted SMs to be: Space Knights.

Once that was settled by GW's dev team with the "colors of cowardice" bit, you really don't see GW paint SMs in camo anymore.

For a Veteran squad in pre-Heresy / Heresy-era armor (mk.4, mk.5, mk.6), camo is an option to be different from the white hats that are generally used.

When you talk about a full-camo army, that really is more of a Guard / Tau thing.

Anyhow, hope this helps

Thanks John, and in keeping what John said... I'm using the camo as a way of defining my Sternguard & associated units... not necessarily as a way of hiding them. Though I do admit to putting my sternguard/Tranquility Sniers in the tall grass by way of giving them some historical context.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

O.K. I have been reminded that both Thing 1 and I owe painted marines to certain, "interested parties"... who are chomping at the bit for their minis.

So... the Mantis Warrior project will be put on hold again until such time as I can clear this obligation. I'll still work on getting Arakasi's nob together though so I don't fall behind on that one too. I've heard a rumor that Forge World is coming out with Badab War figures (from Whalemusic I think). Maybe there will be MWs in that batch... that way you guys can all buy and paint your own MW armies and show me how it's done!

Can't compete with the original and best!

No hurry on my Nob - race you to last? Actually, I spent too much time on it last night. Where there was one, there is now two (because I'm keeping one!) - and considerably less blu tack. I'll get a pic up today or tomorrow...

Brother, I know I have said it before but don't feel pressure to finish our swap as I am knee deep in lasgun-wielding Skaven right now so I am in no rush

I greatly appreciate you both giving me some grace, but I have some GOOD news for a change.

I burned the midnight (well, actually 1:30) oil last night and there is now one more Mortifactor in the universe to protect the Imperium! (it's the sternguard fig I owed Porkuslime) So... the path is clear to return to my Mantis Warrior venerable dread and move on to the next swap project for Arakasi. So guys... I'm grateful to you both for cutting me slack... but I'm OK now, and definitely motivated after being side tracked for so long.

The Mortifactor project was quite fun for several reasons... First: it was just a normal marine... I don't build normal marines (at least not lately), so it was a huge relief to be able to just bang out a decent paint job in an evening. Second: I got to work with colors that I don't usually paint (on a large scale... black and bone) and got to try out several new techniques that I've picked up from watching Ifalna and vent's work. I don't do them anywhere near as well as they do of course, but it was fun to experiment with them and was encouraging enough that I'll continue to try to improve my skills. Third: it was a Mortifactor.... who the heck plays Mortifactors? No one (or nearly so). It was fun to give "life" to a chapter nearly as obscure as my own... guess I'm a sucker for the underdog. All I have to do are the eyes, then I'll post a pic of the completed figure (probably this evening).

To go along with the dreadnought, I'm looking again at filling out the Tranquility Sniper squad (sternguard) & thought I'd put in some special weapons next. I have two configurations in mind. One is the "stand off and shoot" version where I place the sternguard around the rifleman dread to act as a fire base & assault shield. For this role I have two original beakie rocket launchers soaking in Simple Green, which should be more than ready any time I want to pull them out. The other configuration/battle tactic is to drop pod the sternguard in along with the dread for close-in disruptive action. In this case one of the dread's autocannons will be swapped for a CCW. For the sternguard in this role I have two terminator heavy flamers (which will take a bit of modification, but should work just fine). Since the heavy flamers are assault weapons, they can fire from the git-go and won't impeded assaults by the unit.

I'll probably paint these in pairs, so I can max out the selections for the squad once the figs are painted. I'm kind of preparing to give Whalemusic his sternguard back (as soon as T1 finishes painting his Doom Eagle... which should be this weekend) & will need to fill the squad at least back up to playing strength. I suppose I should do a sergeant too, since that's where the h-t-h capability of the squad will pretty much lie. Right now I'm just using the base painted & washed Pedro Kantor figure as he's got a power fist & is the right basic color, but eventually I'll need to build something from scratch that is appropriate (and I'll need Pedro as, well... Pedro).

More later... hope to make quick progress on the dread... but only time will tell. - Gits



Automatically Appended Next Post:


Update:

Mortifactor is finished. I promised Porkuslime that I wouldn't post it until he had a chance to base it, but it is in my "Great Marine Swap" folder in my gallery if you're interested.

On to the dreadnought!!

:-)

Great news!

Do you have any pics?`

What would you like pic's of? The Mortifactor is in my gallery under "Marine Swap Projects". The dread doesn't look that much different than the last pic of it several pages ago, but perhaps by the end of the night I'll have something to put up.

Ok, cool. I checked out the mortifactor. I like it!

Progress on the dread... got most of the metal areas backed in black and given a thick wash of the appropriate metallic. Lot of work but not really worthy of a picture. Blending the yellow is the next step, when I get done with that I'll post a pic.


Automatically Appended Next Post:


For any of you who have expressed interest in a marine swap with me but have not yet started your project... I think I figured out what I'm going to need.

The story of my chapter (detailed in the first few pages) is that they were sent on a 100 yr crusade into the maelstrom to hunt down the Red Corsairs after rebelling in the Badab War & having their home world taken away. Nearly 100 years of constant skirmishing with the Corsairs with no supplies other than what they could scavenge, and more importantly no recruits... saw their surviving marines matriculating into those units that tended to take the heaviest casualties (i.e. assault units and first company). As a result, the chapter essentially "hollowed out", leaving very few regular tactical squads left (in fact the whole chapter has been greatly reduced in size & is barely operational). Though the marines can fill any role, the ranks of the chapter are so depleted that moving a significant number back into the tactical role would seriously reduce the operational efficiency of the assault and veteran units.

Even though the Mantis Warriors have been recalled, "officially" forgiven and have a batch of new recruits... it will be a number of years before the scouts will be ready to assume their roles as full battle brothers. In the mean time, tactical squads are being supplied to the chapter by the Inquisition. These would, under normal circumstances be considered Deathwatch, but in this instance they will function as simply a standard tactical squad. This also serves as one of the ordeals that the Mantis Warriors have to endure in order to be truly accepted back into the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes... suffering the intimate presence of members of other chapters within their ranks, scrutinizing their every move.

What this means for anyone who wants to trade is that I need a simple tactical squad. I've ordered GW's Deathwatch conversion kit, so when my que is cleared a bit and we get to trading... I'll send you the extra bits (pad, bolter & head if you want it) & you can build a representative of your chapter for this duty. Heck, I'd even build the whole marine if that's easier for you, though I suspect most of you would rather build your own. Don't worry about it now... have 3 trades to finish before I can move on to this project, but since it was on my mind I thought I'd lay it out for you. This will also let me work a Rhino into the army while staying consistent with my fluff. Does anyone know of a good Deathwatch style pattern or paint job that I might use as inspiration when the time comes? Since I'll only have one, I can really do it up nice. Wonder if Forge World or Chapterhouse have any Inquisitorial doors or anything for the Rhino.



Automatically Appended Next Post:


OK, answered my own question... Forge World does indeed have some beautiful Inquisitorial Rhino accessories. So, all I need is a good paint scheme (and an rhino... and 10 marines to go in it).

OK, a little progress to show. Base metal is done, and the first yellow color-up is down. Still a long way to go, but progress is progress.

Oh, missed all that auto appended stuff. Yes FW makes some good Inq bits, and phyrl (spelling?) from CH showed some awhile ago that were also good. I'd love to do up at least 1 guy for the DW, and will do as many as you want really.
Do you want to do the traditional DW colors (black with one silver arm and a single pad from home chapter) or totally painted in chapter garb with just the pad and bolter (and some with head)?

Dred is looking good btw! I must warn you, the eyes on FW dred heads can be a mother to get to.

I think I'd like them in their chapter colors with just the DW shoulder pad & bolter... after all, they aren't really DW, just troopers filling in under Inquisitorial control.

Going to have a lot of fun with that rhino when I'm ready. It'll be the only one in my whole army so I'm going to really dress it up.

Let's start with one for now, though I have no problem with you doing more than one save that there are other's marine chapters that I'd love to have represented in the group. You can make them as fancy and dooded up as you want, just as long as they're recognizable as a tac marine. Sergeant should have power fist & combi-bolter, other than that... any tactical option is wide open.

I am seriously considering pulling out my jewelry tools and removing the scallops from within the railing. It's kind of a stupid set up anyway, how would he see out of the damn thing? I mean autosenses sure... but then why have the helmet at all?

When I send your swap over (when I get to it ) I can include a selection of chapter pads, brazen minotaurs, imperial fists, invaders, iron fists, a few sabretooth pads and of course the awesome Blackhand chapter pad.

Would that help pimp out your deathwatch marines?

It certainly would IF I come up short in the trades... I'm kind of hoping I can find enough people who want a MW in trade that I can fill the ranks without having to do so myself... however, I suspect it's likely that I may have to do a couple of the less exciting bolter guys myself in the end. So hold that thought.

Gitsplitta wrote: Does anyone know of a good Deathwatch style pattern or paint job that I might use as inspiration when the time comes?

I once saw a really awesome Deathwatch army (1500pts?) on sale for $400 in a Houston FLGS, and the Land Raider they had was black, with some white highlights, a chapter symbol, and tons of "writing" all over it. So maybe something like that, with gold on the inquisitorial logo and stuff.

Also, that idea sounds cool

i'll paint a Blood Angels deathwatch squad member

Sounds great pie! I guess I'd better keep track of things.

I'll make a list and keep it updated...

A-hem!


If you'd like to do a marine swap with Gitsplitta and would like to make a member of his one and only tactical squad, please PM me and I'll add you to the list. As it will be a while before I have a clear que to work on trades,so please be patient, I want to fulfill my current obligations before embarking on another project... but this way we won't get duplication of chapters or marine configuration. Also please think about what you'd like me to do in return.

Please provide the chapter and configuration of the marine you'd like to do. I will provide the Deathwatch shoulder pad and bolter for you (or you can leave the right shoulder pad and bolter off & I'll do them here). I can also provide any special weapons that you may require.

Here are the slots:

Sergeant: Solar Lions (Solar_Lion)
Special Weapon: Plasma Trooper, Cromson Palidins (Lennysmash)
Trooper 1: Blood Angles (pie_2054)
Trooper 2: Salamanders (Twisted_Thrasher)
Trooper 3:
Trooper 4:
Trooper 5:
Trooper 6:
Trooper 7:
Heavy Weapon:
- Plasma, Dark Angles (whalemusic360)


If enough people want to trade, we can always do different load-outs of the special and heavy weapons. DIY chapters welcome.

Thanks all, really looking forward to fielding a squad made up of my friend's handiwork! And hoping my handiwork finds it's way onto your gaming tables in return!

You gotta have a doom eagle in there

Yes, there will be a doom eagle... but since that one's done in -house, I can wait and see what slots are left to be filled after the trades are complete.




A thought and a question...

I'm wondering if I should paint the head of the dreadnought a different color in order to break up the figure a bit and give it a visual focal point. All the trim will be in gold, the plaques in grey marble, and then there's the purity seals and banners (to be added below the guns) in off-white, red and or purple (for backing). There won't be a lot of visual distinction between the yellow and gold trim, which will make up the bulk of the figure, so I'm wondering if I need to fiddle with the head for contrast.

Thanks! - Gits

Id do the head black, assuming your going to use the camo pattern.

What specail weapon/heavy weapon do you want? I'll do a plama weapon in DA colors if you want (its their "thing"). Otherwise sign me up for 1 of whatever and I'll do my yet unvailed Codex chapter.

i'll do a heavy weapon or Trooper 1

Plasma sounds great WM, either special or Hvy... whatever you want to do. That'll be kinda cool because there will be nearly no plasma's in the chapter as they would have gotten out of the habbit of using them during the crusade (self preservation).

where can you get the deathwatch pads?

and Black for the head is a cool idea.

GW has a nice upgrade set, 10 pads, 10 bolters and 10 heads for $25. The heads aren't anything special, but the pads and bolters are very nice. Chapterhouse also has a couple of different designs that would work too.

Lemme see what I can wrangle up, but I'm thinkin a Plasma cannon is in the realm of possibilities. I'll need the pad for sure, maybe the head. I do kinda like the idea of a black head (dispite the acne referance).

We can work out the trade part latter, but consider the heavy weapon slot 1 taken.

You got it WM, thanks!

I'll take the special weapon slot if you like Gits, with either this guy or if you like I can make a differently posed guy, either is fine. Also I won't glue the weapon so you can swap it out for different lists.



I'm very sorry, I just realised my punctuation on that post was terrible, will amend.

Nice! But you have the shoulder pads reversed.

Actually not really if you follow the logic that they are not fully inducted DW. Onced returned to their parent chapters the DW pad reverts to the squad designation side and the parent heraldry resumes it place on the left. It is only while on active duty that the DW pad is the primary heraldic device on the left. And as Git will be fielding these marines in their chapter livery technically it should be on the right....

......or that could all be wrong, either way what do you reckon, lol.

So which pad are we leaving off again? cuz the one is going to be hard for heavy weapons.....

Okay, I call either sergeant or heavy weapon slot 2, because i have a marine with a meltagun (or you could give me another weapon, i have a whole dev kit to use). I could also do the troop 1, but it'll be harder. Which do you want me to do?

That's very cool Lenny, thanks. Yeah, if you can leave the weapon loose, I can paint up a melta gun or flamer and swap them out as needed. That is unless someone else really wants to do a special weapon marine, in which case I'll have separate figures with different load-outs.

What chapter is he?


@pie: A heavy weapon slot would be great... plasma cannon is already spoken for, but anything else will do just fine.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

whalemusic360 wrote:So which pad are we leaving off again? cuz the one is going to be hard for heavy weapons.....

Theorhetically it's the right pad... but if that doesn't work for you, it's OK with me, you can either leave the left pad off or none at all. There will be plenty of inquisitorial heraldry in the group, I'm sure.

Thought about using the two originaly camo marines as force commanders? Brother Dimshade and Brother Leanman were the two first RT era camo-marines!

I'll have to give some freehanding a go then, Im worried that if I hack it off it will eff the whole deal up.

I'll do the sarge. I have some unique old figures that I will be able to look at donating.

What chapter do you want me to paint? I'm open to about any.

Gitsplitta wrote:That's very cool Lenny, thanks. What chapter is he?

He's an Evocati from my Crimson Paladins Chapter, They have a bone-white armour, similar to that of the Deathwing.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hey I found a wip mini to give you an idea.




If you had someone else doing a special then I can send you this guys as a bolter marine if you like. LMK.

Wow, that's beautiful LS... love the way the white and blue work off each other!


OK, updated the list on P 28. Special slots are filling up... no regular troopers yet.

As for the bases... if you want to flock them in your own style you're welcome to do that, if not, I'll be happy to do it here so they match the rest of the army.

Okay, i'll do trooper 1

time to get paintin'

I'm sorry, but I haven't been following the thread to much lately, but why is the Ven yellow, if its a Mantis Warrior?

"Tranquility Campaign Sniper" camo. One of the two color variations shown in the original rule book.

Oh, I should have known that. Sorry.

So its official Git, the next IA book is indeed Badab Wars. Now my FW order will be ven harder to choose!

Be interesting to see what models they produce to support it. Both excited and nervous... Any proposed date? You think we're talking a couple of months, or a year or more?

1st wave is supposedly comming by sept 27th, 2nd wave (and 2nd book) by xmas. Chances of me starting a B-war chapter.......HIGH

Outstanding! That's two of us for Adepticon... might be able to talk Solar_Lion into it eventually too. Though if FW is doing the Badab War, I suspect we'll just be one of many teams following the theme.

I wonder why they'd need an IA just for the Badab War... that's solidly Mark VI... nothing then that we don't have now, just older versions.

Not sure, but I did hear from someone that is there that they have a named guy for every chapter, including MW, in the book. Depending on sales of the RS and Astral Claws, they will do more models. There are I think 16 different chapters in the book.

Yeah, Im really hoping Adepticon is doable this year, I think it is now that I dont have a car payment each month (WOOT)

Meh, well... even IA is hardly more official than a fandex... still requires the consent of your opponent, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Would be very interested in their take on the figures... though really they might not be anything more than their mk 6 armor with the old MW pad design... which I'm not using anyway as my version of the Mantis Warriors takes place well after the Badab War.

But... you never know. They do make some kick-a** models, so here's hoping for something cool!

They have promissed at least transfers for all the chapters, so may be something there. IA is a bit more usable then fandexes, depending on where you go. Ive taken my LR helios a few spots just for fun (its not that good)

I think they will make shoulder pads to alot of chapters. These are ofcourse just some rumours and don't know how good it is. I read it on warseer, you could check it out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And by "I think they will make shoulder pads to alot of chapters" I'm refering to the badab war chapters.

Transfers even I can make with my little color printer...

Well, we'll see... at least for me, I have my shoulder pads in the works for the "Mantis Warriors Penitent"... it would still be cool to see some of the old pads done in 3-D. And I didn't mean to insult the quality of Forge World's efforts, it's just that no matter how good... if I have to get my opponent's permission to use it... it's a fan dex, plain and simple. The fact that the "fan" is a subsidiary of GW doesn't change the fact that it's not really official.

Chaps my a** though sometimes, I have an awesome FW ork big mech that I can't really use yet because I haven't figured out how to field him legally. Right now he's just for show...


BTW: I am getting some painting done (other than working on T1's trades), hope to have a bit of dreadnought progress to show by tomorrow night.

Gitsplitta wrote:Outstanding! That's two of us for Adepticon... might be able to talk Solar_Lion into it eventually too. Though if FW is doing the Badab War, I suspect we'll just be one of many teams following the theme.

I wonder why they'd need an IA just for the Badab War... that's solidly Mark VI... nothing then that we don't have now, just older versions.

I'm in. Thou I'm all about doing a traitor chapter. Something new for me. Astral Claws.

My God man, you aren't still at work are you?? Go HOME son!

Cool beans, love to see the Astral Claws. There are some great renditions of the Red Corsairs out there (what the Astral Claws became), but I haven't actually seen anyone doing the original Astrals.



Well, have a little bit of an update...

Made some progress on the dread. Colored up the yellow 1 layer (2 coats) and did a considerable amount of work on the guns... mostly the right, but got some done on the left as well.



I also painted the eyes and made the helmet black. I'm not certain that this was a good choice. It sounded good, but rather than being a contrasting focal point, the head is just kind of a black hole in the center of the figure. Thoughts??





I don't hate it... but I don't think I like it either... and the head looks much more "black hole" like on the real fig at tabletop distance.

Maybe white might be a good choice? It signifies veteran status in a lot of chapters after all

Well, if black didn't work, try white! I like it alot.

I like it. Perhaps more black in the general area might help - the aquila perhaps?

Are you doing any regular mantis warriors atm Gitspitta? I'm kinda missing the green lately

I also vote for a white head on the dread, should look awesome ones the camo pattern goes on

Hey all: I think what I'll do is leave the black on for now, and wait until the rest of the painting is done. The body will look a lot different when all the ornamentations and seals are completely painted, maybe that will make a difference. Since the eyes are done, the helm should be relatively easy to re-paint if need be.

@Limbo: At the moment I'm not, I'm working on 1 MW and 1 marine swap at a time. While there will eventually be a lot of green as I work my way through the units (assault, devistator, command, terminators, etc) they don't play a major role in the current army build that I have in mind... which is primarily scouts and Sternguard. I will work some Vanguard in as soon as I come to a final decision on parts, they'll be green... but the only "full marines" at this point are in tranquility camo. That being said, I'll be doing a number of regular marines for swaps... so you'll get to see some green with those.

Mainly though, I'm waiting on my shoulder pads from Chapterhouse to come in... it's not an issue for the Sternguard as I've decided to model them completely old school and concentrate on the camo pattern rather than chapter markings.

How about red for the helmet or yellow just with a red stripe.

When you put on your camo markings make one on the helmet but in yellow, I think that'd look cool.

Hmmm... it appears Ice Angel's post is lost in the ether in-between pages... nope... my mistake... It's MY post that's lost in the ether.

Good suggestions guys... I'm all ears at this point... I might try Arakasi's idea to see how it looks before changing the color of the helmet entirely. Luckily because if it's location and shape it can probably be re-painted several times without any noticeable negative affects.


Hope to make some progress on the dread today *and* do a little work of the build on Arakasi's bug boy... just need to rummage around and find all the parts. I suppose I could start by just building the swords for him... there's enough work in that to fill up an afternoon all by itself. Might not get too much done though, parent's are coming over to pick up the kids for a week (Yippie!!) before school starts again.

Gitsplitta wrote:
Here are the slots:

Sergeant: Solar Lions (Solar_Lion)
Special Weapon: Plasma Trooper, Cromson Palidins (Lennysmash)
Trooper 1: Blood Angles (pie_2054)
Trooper 2: Salamanders (Twisted_Thrasher)
Trooper 3:
Trooper 4:
Trooper 5:
Trooper 6:
Trooper 7:
Heavy Weapon:
- Plasma, Dark Angles (whalemusic360)

I know this isn't the first time this has happened but I get a kick out of it every time. Trooper 1: Blood Angles???? lmao, are they loyal obtuse marines or more raging isosceles?

On another note, put me down for one of those troopers slots. You need an Ice Angel in there.

As requested.... (and you're right... I NEED an Ice Angle in there... or is it I.C.E. Agent??) *grin* Sorry... government employee humor... such as it is.


Here are the slots: updated 8/22

Sergeant: Solar Lions (Solar_Lion)
Special Weapon: Plasma Trooper, Crimson Palidins (Lennysmash)
Trooper 1: Blood Angels (pie_2054)
Trooper 2: Salamanders (Twisted_Thrasher)
Trooper 3: Ice Angels (Ice_Angel)
Trooper 4: Salamanders (Gretar)
Trooper 5:
Trooper 6:
Trooper 7:
Heavy Weapon:
- Plasma, Dark Angels (whalemusic360)

Definitely paint it white, and maybe add a large black camo marking going down the front

BTW, am working on trooper 1, it's coming out okay

How come Ice gets angels and pie and I get angles?

Don't worry I got Cromson Palidins... I've tried to find a colour scheme but to no avail. I'm sorry Git I failed you, alas I shall have to just paint you one of my CRIMSON Paladins .

Wow hes doin pretty awsome on the spelling thing, isnt he?

LOL, sorry guys, with the new set up I'm like... 9 feet away from the computer screen and I can't see a thing... it's like typing in English and little hieroglyphics appear on the screen instead. Maybe I'll move the couch up a bit...

*grunt" *strain* *pant*

OK, now I'm about 7 feet away... we'll see if that helps. Eh... not much, perhaps a little.


Though if Lenny continues to grouse... I may rename them the "Curmudgeon Palidins".

I can hear their battle-cry now... "Dang 'Nids, get off my lawn!"


O.K. think I've corrected the spelling... at least all of the A-words are spelled the same, if not correctly.

Lol, I like the sound of that, I'll start remodelling their preceptory into a giant front porch with row upon row of rocking chairs, haha.

I love the way your Mantis Warriors are turning out man!

Thanks Thorgrim... slow and steady. It's very cool to get the positive feedback though... helps keep me going at the painting table.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/120/312405.page

Not sure if you have come across this thread yet Gits so I'll post it up for you.

Thanks Len, interesting stuff... hadn't seen that thread before.

Git,

The problem as you have noted is that the black helmet, while cool in concept, ends up being a big black hole in the model. This is because the helmet is essentially just a big flat surface.

My suggestion to avoid this would be to do something that will add some definition to the helmet. Thoughts include:

1) Extreme Highlight in light gray. This would be on the vent at the top and possibly either at the edge of or just over the eyes.

2) Your standard camo is the yellow-brown with black? Do the helmet in reverse then, with black having some yellow-brown camo. This will help make the helmet a focal point as well as tie in with the rest of the model.

3) Add some freehand details to the helmet. Scroll work, text (in white), Chapter Symbols, or even just some straight lines (think war paint) would add detail and help break up the monotony.

Am moving a Mantis Warrior discussion over from another thread...

Concerning the Vanguard and the double-chain swords...

Leonus wrote:Have you considered using Tyranid Scything Talons for Mantis blades? Could either be decorations on armour or even replace power swords and the like.

To which I responded...

Gitsplitta wrote:@Leonis: I'm not really familiar with the tyranid line, so no. I'll look into it though. Thanks! When I first started this project, I thought about using a more organic form for the mantis arms, but I decided that whatever form they took should be consistent with existing SIC templates. Something that was too alien looking would probably not be allowed to be produced, so I opted for hinged chain swords (or perhaps power swords if I can find the right ones. I can look at the 'nid bits and see if there's something there I can work with... maybe mounting them in a more traditional Imperial housing would make them convincing. Have to see.

Then Whalemusic360 said...

whalemusic360 wrote:I think that if you were doing Chaos MWs, the nid bits would be ace, but they will look like mutations. Have you seen Paulson games Power Scythes? Those may work for ya.

*whew* Finally caught up.

I've checked out Paulson's web site (for multiple things, he's working on some 3-jet jump packs that are just incredible, perfect accompaniment for my Vanguard). The power scythes are very nice as-is, but they look much too thick to me to work in the construct that I've envisioned. I realize the thickness is probably necessary for both casting and gaming durability... but I don't think they'd look right hanging out away from a figure as part of a hinged arm. When I get to the point where I'm really doing the vanguard... I may buy a set just to play with, but looking at it in comparison the the marine it just looks too beefy for my purposes.

That being said, I don't have a good alternative at the moment... so everything is still in play.


@Heffling: Those are all excellent suggestions... I like the idea of counter-changing the camo pattern a lot (which has been suggested before) for a number of reasons, some of which have nothing to do with war gaming. I also like the idea of adding some freehand details... which is consistent with the rest of the model (which is very busy). I think I'm going to leave the helmet until last... when I finish all the rest we may find that the helmet is kind of a nice area of quiet in the middle of a very busy model & all that's needed are some extreme highlights to bring out it's shape. Or we may indeed find that the counter-camo or freehand is warranted to pull it all together. In any case, I appreciate your thoughts on the matter and will consider them carefully when the time comes.

Lennysmash wrote:Actually not really if you follow the logic that they are not fully inducted DW. Onced returned to their parent chapters the DW pad reverts to the squad designation side and the parent heraldry resumes it place on the left. It is only while on active duty that the DW pad is the primary heraldic device on the left. And as Git will be fielding these marines in their chapter livery technically it should be on the right....

......or that could all be wrong, either way what do you reckon, lol.

You're absolutely right Lenny, when using the US Army method.

Current Regiment is displayed on the left arm, previous assignments on the right.

So... Inquisition pads should be on the left?

Only if the marines are in DW livery ie black armour. Anything else it should really be on the right pauldron.

Got it... Thanks my friend. The mysteries of military heraldry elude me.

Hah, Sorry Git, I should have explained myself better.

Good news for anyone trading a marine for my Deatwatch / Tac squad. The Deathwatch conversion upgrade kit just came in. So PM me your addy (if I don't already have it) and I'll send you out a shoulder pad, very cool bolter and a head... you don't have to use the head... but that way I'm replacing your stock.

Did you decide on a head color? Black or Silver maybe? My guy has a hood and no helemt so I dont care really, lol.

Make the whole marine the color of it's chapter... it's just the right shoulder pad that'll be different. I only offer the bolter because it's a really cool one & is part of the upgrade kit... so it would be nice to be consistent.

Kk, well I dont need anything at this point then. I'll do something to the right pad.

You know, for heavy weapons where the shoulder pad is kind of integral to the weapon... just paint it black with perhaps some gold trim? That should get it close enough... no reason to break your back over a shoulder pad that isn't clearly visible in the first place.

Is there any set that come with a selection of Combi- weapons?

The plastic commander comes with a Combimelta and Combiplasma.

No need to send me anything Git the right pad on my guy isn't glued down and its a special weapon too. I'll paint the DW pad I have but if you want to change it you'll be able to.

Sounds great Len, I'm sure yours will be fine... but thanks!

Gitsplitta wrote:Make the whole marine the color of it's chapter... it's just the right shoulder pad that'll be different. I only offer the bolter because it's a really cool one & is part of the upgrade kit... so it would be nice to be consistent.

uh oh...

I already painted him black and did all the highlights...
anyways, he's almost done, someone borrowed my bleached bone and hasn't given it back, so i'll have to get it back from him before it's done...