Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Impressive looking force you have growing there.

As for the base, what are you going with for the army as a whole? Sticking with the same thing as you Scars? Or mixing things up a bit.

IIRC you were going for an urban theme, which fits the camo pattern you chose. Although, as an armored list, very few of your “core” units are going to be on bases. Just when the troopers have to bail out of their transports.

Is there a story you are telling? A foe to fight? A campaign to win?

I’m a little fuzzy on the stats of the flyer, but I seem to recall it being primarily a ground attack bird. You want a low profile base, so I might put a crater on there. Put a guardsman or two in it. One on the com, calling in coordinates for the strike, possibly waving/pointing. The other, wounded if possible, stands and salutes the pilot flying overhead, glad that the flyboys have finally decided to show up.

Thanks guys.

@Nev. Definately an urban theme with the guardsmen. So ruins / rubble on bases is the way to go. I want to keep it relatively small (in terms of height off the TT), just so I can transport it easier. And you're idea just sparked an idea for me I think I'm going to put a few heavy bolter teams on the base, and build it up like a forward defence line. The vulture is definately an air support vehicle, so it'd work in the sense that it's backing up the guardsmen. But i'm quite content to leave the flier bases for now in favour of completing the other stuff.

Anyway, the campaign started yesturday. Guardsmen are such a different pace to Bikers... its crazy. I played decently, learnt a few things. I was playing a mostly T5 nurgle CSM. Vultures are awesome. They have straffing run, so BS4 twin linked against ground targets. It's a shame it came on on turn 4... xD It proceeded to mulch 7 CSMs holding their home objective, and it got his last scoring model on turn 7 xD My guardsmen went down in droves. I've learnt to NEVER get out of a Chimera. exit = death. But aside from that, it came to a draw. 2:2 on secondaries. We both nabbed warlord and i got first blood and he had LB. I think, because my Warlord died, he comes back next game on 50% wounds. And if he dies the next game... I think he is out(?). Will have to double check that.

Whilst at the LGS yesturday, I picked up the CCS. I'm going to build those today, and do a few other hobby related things.

Z

I don’t know if you’ve been following the IG rumor thread, but in the leaked pictures of the hydra/wyvern kit, one of the crew members looks like he was custom built to decorate a flyer’s base.

Crouched down, checking a map, with his hand to his earpiece activating his com.

O.o good spot.

On the topic of the new IG stuff... Is that the new studio paint job for Cadians? I'm glad their getting something new, the green and brown was getting old, but i'm not sure I like it.

And the orders... I destroyed my eyes squinting up against the screen trying to read the blurry stuff. Give a unit split fire? Precision Shots? Pinning? Yes please! xD


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hey all,

The day is ending, and I thought i'd give you a mini-update. I've primed the last 2 Chimeras and the 2 Leman Russes. I need more tape for the digital camo masking, so they're going to hang out on the sheft and cure for a few days untill I stock up again.

Additionally, I've cut and cleaned the CCS I bought from the LGS yesturday. No glue yet, waiting for the GS on their bases to cure first. I'm trying to go for the urban rubble look, so I've built up some areas with GS and made some sprue-bricks. I also used some resin pieces from the scenic set I've had for ever, and some brass etch razor wire...
Also put together 5 small objective markers - it's about time I have my own objectives!
Pics of these soon

Now, the camo problem...
Ignore the armour, just focussing on fatigues xD I know the armour colour i'm going with.
I took a better picture of the scheme I like. I upped the exposure so it's not so dark.

What I like about this one is that it's incredibly quick to do and the contrast between highlights and recesses look good (imo).

I tried a few different camo schemes too;
1


2


3


I'm leaning towards number 2 but i'd like to hear your opinions

Z

Yep, that's a new scheme for cadians. GW have made them look even worse!

Split fire, Precision Shots, and Shoot then Run are the new orders, I think. Other than that, FRFSRF stays (but now works on hotshot lasguns too), and Move Move Move is the same. No word yet on whether GBITF, Incoming, FOMT or BiD are still there or not.

Also, there's now Command Tanks for IG, so if you wanted to, you could almost run your ABG list as a codex list now.

Disembarking from Chimeras is usually inadvisable, but there are times when it can help. Remember, you can Flat-out the Chimera after they've diembarked and fired, essentially providing mobile cover for the enemy turn, and even when it's wrecked, it's still giving a 5+ cover (4+ if you GtG). Also, here's a link to an article on playing Chimeras and Russes I wrote a while back, there may be some useful stuff for you in there:
http://antorsfinest.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/5-things-to-know-about-mech-guard.html

And one on specifically Veterans:
http://antorsfinest.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/5-things-to-know-about-veteran-squads.html

Might be helpful, as I can't see Vets, Russes or Chimeras changing much in the new dex.

Scheme 2 gets my vote, looks cool and natural.

I like number two for the camo as well. 3 is also quite nice, but I think the pattern would have to be more dense for it to really work, and that’s going to be a lot more painting. 2 works well as-is.

I like number 2 as well.

Hi everyone.

So, it's been over a week since I updated you guys... And in all honesty not a lot has been done.

I appreciate your input on the camo scheme. I agree, number 2 is best. I repainted the entire squad to have that scheme:




All in all, they took a fair amount of time to complete. I think this squad has seen maybe 6 or 7 different paint jobs... lol. I'm glad that they are almost finished.

Now, the Thunderbolt....



It was a real PITA to build. More so than the Vulture. I had to hack chunks off to get it to fit, and i'm going to need to do some considerable GSing. I did, however, magnetise the wings for transport purposes, and I left a few bits and pieces off for the sake of painting it.



I'm trying to think of how to paint the Navy fliers. They wont have digital camo, so I was thinking a single tone camo. Maybe a mid-grey, with some Navy markings and stripes... I'll leave those ideas fester, and see what i've come up with in a few days when i'm ready to paint.

I started my CCS. They are build and primed. 2 are painted, but i've run out of steam in terms of painting guardsmen. I'll shelf them for a few days and come back to them around the weekend.
I ordered more digital camo masking sheets and decal paper, but stupidly sent them to my parents house xD So, progress on my tanks is waiting for me to go and get those.

@Para. Thanks for those links, they are helpful. I wonder whats going to change in the new codex. Only a few days untill we can find out...

In terms of gaming... I'm getting to grips with the army. The first week of the campaign I managed a draw. This week I lost. In this weeks game, my Vulture was a game changer. They 23 shots it could have put out would have annihilated his pink horrors (his only scoring), but it was shot down by interceptor on the turn it came in... Which was absolutely devastating xD I picked up another box of infantry too. So when I build them, I can stop proxying grey hunters as IG...

Anyway, thats all for now.
Z

The infantry are looking great now, the camo is very neat and natural. The Sarge's face is also very nicely done.

In terms of new codex changes that will affect you, here's what I can recall, to save you having to trawl through the 100+ pages of rumours:

Vets are 10 points cheaper across the board.
Chimeras are 10 points more expensive.
Chimeras lose 3 fire points (down to 2, hurting mech vets)
The side lasguns on Chimeras can now fire as 3 lasguns, and at different targets.
Russes are mostly cheaper, things like exterminators are now in the 130 points range.
Russes can now be HQs, but you need 2+ in a squadron.

So some good, some bad. Shouldn't change things too much. It'll also take a while for FW to update the ABG list, I imagine.

Looking forward to the Thunderbolt, that is one awesome aircraft.

Nice guardsmen. Is the new codex going to affect you, aren’t you using a FW list? Or is it full of “See the IG codex” so you get a lot of trickle down?

Is it just me or is that flyer screaming for a shark mouth? Might just be the WW1/2 styling of the IoM, but it seems to demand nose art. You could also do the dark top/pale belly style of paint. While a navy bird, what’s it’s primary job? Space combat that just happens to be tasked with ground support? Or a dedicated mud mover? Makes a difference on what kind of paint would be slapped on.

 Nevelon wrote:
Nice guardsmen. Is the new codex going to affect you, aren’t you using a FW list? Or is it full of “See the IG codex” so you get a lot of trickle down?

Is it just me or is that flyer screaming for a shark mouth? Might just be the WW1/2 styling of the IoM, but it seems to demand nose art. You could also do the dark top/pale belly style of paint. While a navy bird, what’s it’s primary job? Space combat that just happens to be tasked with ground support? Or a dedicated mud mover? Makes a difference on what kind of paint would be slapped on.

I would second this idea, a shark mouth would take the thunderbolt from awesome to plain terrifying. In terms of role, I'm pretty sure they are a multi-role aircraft, but I'm almost certain they mainly operate in-atmosphere (could be wrong, though). Could have some very nice camo options, a two-tone grey could be very nice.

Thanks guys.

5 hours later, and I have an additional 2 Chimeras with digital camo done. It takes a LONG time. Its supprising how long it takes to do this.

Those changes seem good and bad. Cheaper russes are great. 2 firing slots on a Chimera? pfft. And LRs as HQ if you take more than 2 in a squadron? Seems iffy, i'd never use 2 LRs in a squadron when I can take them separetly.
Still undecided on whether I'll get the new codex when it's released, because I'll be using the ABG list for now.

As for the thunderbolt... Nose art is a cool idea. But there is a lot going on around the nose area, and very uneven surfaces. imo, it'd be hard to get good looking teeth running along it. On something like the Vulture, with the flat, panelled nose it'd be simple. I'll look around the internet for some images, see what I can find.
The Thunderbolt is an air support unit. So it predominantly flies in-atmosphere. But, it does have the ability to exit the atmosphere.
Again, regarding the paint job, i'll see if anything strikes me after some research.

Z

I see what you mean about the nose being a bit cluttered. What about some markings on the wings, and save the nose art for the Vulture?

Yeah, nose art on the Vulture would be a lot easier. I've been looking around for various different pieces of inspiration for nose art, unfortunately, it's just a lot different shark teeth. I'd be interested in doing something different. Any ideas / suggestions? I will do teeth, but going to give it a day or two to see if anything else pops up.

As for the fliers paint jobs, a two tone camo is the direction i'm going (unless of course, my mind can be drastically changed). I'll probably use the same greys as the tanks, for the colour tie in.

I made up some home made decals today. It was aweful. I put some on a test Chimera and on the infantry squad, and imo it ruined them :( I think the paper I used is too thick(?), because you can clearly see the edge of the paper on the models despite multiple coats of micro set/sol.

This lead me to decide that i'm going to push forward with other models and sweat the details later. Which means i'll be holding off on the weathering and the decals in favour of getting paint on as much as possible.

Yeah, nose art on the Vulture would be a lot easier. I've been looking around for various different pieces of inspiration for nose art, unfortunately, it's just a lot different shark teeth. I'd be interested in doing something different. Any ideas / suggestions? I will do teeth, but going to give it a day or two to see if anything else pops up.

You already had a look at historical nose art for example of WW2 aircraft? A lot of teeth and pinups but here and there you will find something different. Nice work btw!

You could go with Bugstomper. Eagle with combat boots and a shotgun, with the motto “We endanger species”

AKA the nose art from the colonial marines dropship from Aliens

You might just be using the wrong paper? I’ve not done make your own decals personally, but it is a thing that people do. So presumably there is a way to make it work.

A nice toothy maw is something that can be done freehand, so has that going for it. Anything else is going to require figuring out how to get the transfers to work.

Have you considered doing freehand markings rather than decals? It might take more time, but I actually prefer it, for infantry at least. It allows more variation and looks more natural without needed a matt coat.

Of course, it depends on how confident you are with freehand. With any luck, things like numbers and simple markings should be easy with some practice.

Coming along well mate! I'm personally looking at starting some Steel Legion :3 Love the urban camo theme you've got going on, looks fab

Thanks all for the comments.

Definately going to do the teeth on the Vulture. Been looking around and nothing has caught my interest, so teeth it is!

Here is where the Vulture currently stands:


Just some subtle soft edge camo stripes. I've run out of airbrush cleaner (more on order), so there will be no more airbrushing for the next day or two
Also really low on nuln oil, so I cant even line it yet...

Here is a few pics of the CCS:




Para, you can see the level of my freehanding abilities on the banner... I need a lot of practise...
In hindsight, the red on the commander isn't great. It doesn't really fit.

Also, some objective markers I finished off this afternoon: (The wash is still a little wet in the pictures)



I'm going to start working on 10 cadians I have NoS. And I got some fairy power spray to strip 10 karskins I have. Also, as soon as the airbrush cleaner shows up, I'm going to camo up the two leman russes I have sitting primed, to make room for the next two LRs I have ordered.

Last night was game night. I managed to squeeze two games in.
First was against the Chaos team's warmaster. My army was the worst possible lineup he could have faced... He had 2 maulerfiends, 2 lots of 10 CSM infiltrating, a helldrake, nurgle DP and cultists. He didn't even get close. I skirted along the back edge, blew him to pieces before he got to me. He conceeded on turn 4.
Second game was against Daemons. 3 FMC, 2 bunches of horrors and a bunch of daemonettes. it was rushed a bit, and we had to call it on turn 3. Turn one saw the DPs blast on up the board, hiding behind things... It started to look up on turn two, where I lined up all of my vehicles to take out a single flying DP. Killed it out right with my first vehicle and because I moved everything so it could shoot at it, I couldn't do anything else due to awkward / wrong positioning Turn three saw the remaining two blast over my lines into my backfield. I managed to drop his Warlord out of the sky (woo! minor victory xD) and I cleared one unit of horrors off an objective. It ended and he had 1 objective + linebreaker and I had warlord. In hind sight, I placed one of my objectives just a little too far forward, just outside my deployment zone, which was totally pointless and I have no idea of my thought process when I made that decision, but awell.

Next week's campaign games are going to be specifically written up. No random match ups this time. We're going to have set opponents with specific / custom games objectives and slight handicaps depending on how well we've done over the past 3 weeks. After that, the campaign steps up to 1500 points.

Thats all from me, have a good day
Z

CCS are looking good (Although I agree about the Officer's coat. Maybe tone it down to a brown, like a leather overcoat or similar). The banner is actually pretty good, and the colour choices work well.

Those objective markers are also really cool. I'm always a fan of custom markers, but mine tend to be dioramas on 60mm bases, so a little impractical for actual gaming. Yours may have given me an idea for some more subtle ones, though.

Sounds like those two games were tough matchups either way (karma?). Next games sound interesting, custom missions are always a blast. How are your team doing in the campaign so far?

I'm glad I inspired some objective ideas
Diorama objective markers do look cool. I went the easy route, because they were only a few pound on FW and I was getting my fliers anyway. I've had an idea of objective markers for a long time, but i've not done it yet (for some reason). On a 60mm base, I want to build a wall of dice, with a guardsmen shooting over it / guardsmen kneeling and voxing someone / other panic striken guardsmen poses. It gives it that diorama-esque feel with the guardsmen, yet remaining somewhat whimsicle and 'objective-y' because of the dice.

The second game, was unfortunate in where we ended. I'm fairly certain I could have won, at least forced a draw. He had a single MC, and 2 bunches of horrors left, and I had everything minus a guardsmen squad, chimera and avenger. So there was still a lot of potential for me to shoot him down, or atleast wipe off his troops.

Hey guys,

Hope everyone had a good Easter (and are enjoying their Moday off work )

Progress has been a little slow this past week. But I redeemed myself today.

Todays efforts include, the digital camo on 2 Russes, and start of construction of my second infantry squad:




I've run out of Nuln oil, so progress on the LRs have stopped here (atleast untill tomorrow when I pick up more).
Also, I've dropped 10 Kasrkin I had lying around into some fairy power spray. They'll get stripped and repainted over the next few days. And the metals have been painted on the Vulture (but still waiting on the wash...)

So, yeah, thats it. More soon
Z

That cammo looks really good mate. Looking forward to seeing them washed.

Camo looks good, does its job of breaking up the outlines very well.

Cheers fellas.

Today, I managed to finished the two Russes pictures above. Which is great, because two more Russes were delivered yesturday (praise the machine god!).

Also, I'm around 40% through painting the 10 guardsmen from the previous post, too. Hoping to finish them over the next few days. And as i'm typing this, I remembered i've left my Kasrkin stripping for the past 3 days. Awell, they're metal models, so they shouldn't melt or anything (atleast I hope not!). I got a box of heavy weapons teams sitting around somewhere too. So now I can stop proxying Autocannons and Lascannons

I'm fast realising that I dont actually want to continue with IG after I've got everything for the campaign. It sounds crazy but I want to go back to painting white xD So, with that in mind, I ordered the last 2 tanks I need from Forgeworld today - another Thunderbolt, and a Stygies VIII pattern Vanquisher (When I run a tank commander, I want an awesome looking tank commander ).
So, with my renewed enthuiasm for my White Scars, i'm looking to really push through my Guard.

More WiPs when my 2 LRs and HWTs are built
Z

Having a real goal to build to is no bad thing, and sometimes, having a small secondary army is quite refreshing while you focus on your other/s. My own Space Wolves are barely past around 1100 points, but they make a great plug-in allied detachment or a good force for smaller games.

Besides, there's nothing to stop you adding to them in future.

Looking forward to progress on the guard, and a return to the White Scars.

Nice to know you are coming back to the brotherhood.

As para said tho allies are perfect for the scars.

You are a tease, telling us you finished those two russes without giving us pictures.

And paint whatever makes you happy. But in the grim darkness of the future, there is only adding to your collection. You might think you are done with your guard, but they are not done with you...

or is he.......

Oh man... what a loooong week!

I had a coursework deadline today, and like a typical idiot, I left it to the last week (despite it being issued back in october!!!). Anyway, now that I've submitted my final piece of coursework for this academic year, I thought I'd update this thread.

I think 2k points of Guardsmen is a good place to 'leave' them. It's enough to have a variety of stuff for allies, and enough to give me some decent set-ups for 1500 point games. It's also small enough to make me want to add something if I want a casual distraction.

Anyway, here are the pics of the finished Russes. (Hope you enjoyed the wait, Nev )




Also, in my last update with pictures (almost 2 weeks ago!), the guardsmen in those pictures are now done.





I pushed the boat out a bit with the basing. Trying to give them a more urban-y feel. It's nothing massive, but it's quick to do and subtle so i'm happy enough with it.

Want to see what hobbying I did this week? (everything so far is from last week). I spent a grand total of 40 minutes building stuff just so I can play it in the FLGS.


My FW order showed up this week.

I didn't know what this was at first. They've never sent me a catalogue of their stuff. It was a nice little booklet, I enjoyed flicking through the pages looking at everything (literally, everything they sell is in that book). Also a cool little pin badge. Not sure what I did to deserve it, but I think it's cool. Definately getting pinned to the strap on my bag
And the actual content of the order:


The first pic is the Stygies VIII pattern Vanquisher. According to the fluff in IA1:2e, Stygies VIII is the forgeworld that are renown for the best Vanquishers. So, I thought it was fitting I got this model to be my Tank Commander. I got the whole set, not the upgrade kit. It comes with the LR sprues and the upgrade sprue, so look out, pretty soon my tank commander will be making an appearance. Also pictured is my second Thunderbolt.

In the process of writing this, I think I'm halfway through my IG project. I have completed 6 tanks, and 25 infantry. All I got left is 10 guardsmen, 3 HWTs and another 6 tanks. Woo, go me, half way!

I did manage to sneak out to the FLGS this week. Our campaign stepped up to 1500 points, and I found that I'm a little light on solid AT. I have 2 LR Exterminators and 2 LRBTs, which I thought would do it, but apparently not. The only thing my squadron of 2 LRBTs killed was a single guardsmen (ONE OF MINE!) all game, darn scatter, lol. Also played the Thunderbolt. It was a little underwhelming, but then again that could be because it came in on T4 of a 5 turn game, lol... It wasn't the best game I'd played, the dice were definately against me.

This weekend will be pretty easy going for me. Hoping to get those Kasrkin out of the chemical bath they've been taking for almost 2 weeks. Also hoping to put together the HWTs and 2 of the remaining 3 LRs.

I dont know if you noticed, but I gave myself an Avatar... About time.

Have a good weekend, everyone!
Z