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Almost four years ago (or whenever Forgeworld first released their stunning Death Korps of Krieg line), I started collecting this army, partly out of the desire for a "regular" army (that isn't my Wolves of Fenris), and partly out of sheer foolishness. Over the years I have collected, converted, and then stored, in large part due to my inability to paint large vehicles to an acceptable quality. However, over the past year I have been experimenting with a lot of new techniques, and with lots of practice with an airbrush under my belt, I had a go at these sumbiches. That and I am SO bored of my Space Wolves right now, which is the perfect motivation to finish a "new" army!

I give you the 63rd Krieg Panzer Division, with elements of the 43rd Krieg Airborne!


A cover I did as part of my Product Illustration class in 4th year.


Command Squad with attached "Astropath" (represented by the communications officer), led by Colonel Heinz Guderian.


Veteran Squad, led by Sergeant "Harker" with 3 Grenade Launchers and an Autocannon.


Veteran Squad, with 3 Meltaguns.


Veteran Squad, with 2 Flamers and Heavy Flamer.


Veteran Squad, with 2 Flamers and Heavy Flamer.

A note on my tanks. All the Chimeras and Hydras are converted from the old Chimera kits (which had individual wheels to support the tracks), with stowage from a mix of Space Marine, Imperial Guard, Forgeworld, and Military Scale Model kits to represent that the army is always on campaign and carries their supplies with them. The Hydra turrets are converted with the Autocannons from the Aegis Defense Lines.




Epsilon-pattern Chimeras.






Gamma-pattern Hydras.

The Valkyries mount Forgeworld Punisher cannons (counts as Multiple Rocket Pods, representing them saturating an area with lead, fire and death) and Lascannons. The Vendettas mount the Forgeworld Vendetta conversion kit. Fairly straightforward, the crew (pilots and copilots) are all converted from the Death Korps Tank Commander (8 in total, making these flyers ridiculously expensive).


Pilot call-sign "Magnet" (as in Fire), Co-pilot call-sign "F.A.N.G." (as in F***, Another New Guy)


Pilot call-sign "F.U.N.G.U.S." (as in F*** You New Guy, You Suck), Co-pilot call-sign "Raven"

The names FANG and FUNGUS coincide because the Valkyries are fielded as a squadron.


Pilot call-sign "Magellan", Co-pilot call-sign "Double Tap"


Pilot call-sign "Blackjack", Co-pilot call-sign "Spitfire"


Mars-pattern Leman Russ Demolisher, sporting Heavy Bolter sponsons, with yet more stowage.


Custom dice, courtesy of the wonderful people at Chessex.

Thoughts, comments, criticisms, loud rambunctious noises, have at thee!

Tantum nex officium terminus!
Only in death does duty end. Motto of the 63rd Krieg Panzer Division.


DV8

WOW. Pretty cool army you got there!

Wonderful army, you gotta be pleased with them.

Those custom dice are most excellent! How much did they end up costing?

Also, any chance we could see your whole army together?

With an order of 30, $0.75 USD per dice.

I'll snap a picture with my entire army when I get home tonight.


DV8

Very nice indeed. Lovely paint work, especially on the infantry.

Any chance of a tutorial/paint guide of some kind?

Oh My God!

Brilliant, brilliant work.

Very lovely army there. Beautiful.

What colours did you use for the scratches and scraps on the vehicles?

I shall have at thee good sir knight.

Totally Awesome! Subscribed!

Absolutely and truely glorious!

You are mighty!

Excellent work there...

WOW

Two Words!

Awe Some!

Great stuff and nice details.

COLORS

Privateer Press Paints (P3)
Cryx Bane Base
Traitor Green
Rucksack Tan
Sanguine Base
Trollblood

Vallejo
Iraqi Sand
Air Chrome

Games Workshop (GW)
Chaos Black
Scorched Brown
Dark Flesh
Bleached Bone
Boltgun Metal
Skull White
Badab Black
Devlan Mud

The army was primed with Krylon Grey spraypaint.

The models were then basecoated with Rucksack Tan.
Highlights were airbrushed on progressively by adding Iraqi Sand, and Skull White.

From here, the Infantry were painted entirely separately, and with different colors than the tanks (in the broad scheme of things, and only for the main tan colors).

All tan elements of the infantry were shaded by mixing Cryx Bane Base with Rucksack Tan, and then further with Devlan Mud. Highlights were re-worked back up with Rucksack Tan, Iraqi Sand, and Skull White.

All tan elements of the tanks were shaded with an airbrush with varying mixes of Rucksack Tan, Cryx Bane Base, Sanguine Base, Trollblood, Scorched Brown, and Chaos Black. I honestly couldn't tell you ratios or exact mixes, because the entire process was very experimental, and like an idiot I failed to record what I used.

The pink bandings were masked with painters tape and basecoated with Sanguine Base. This was highlighted by adding progressively more Skull White mixed with a bit of Iraqi Sand.

From there it's just a matter of detail work.

The infantry fatigues were Cryx Bane Base blended up with Bleached Bone. A lot of the stowage on the tanks uses this same mix.

Sandbags were Traitor Green blended up with Bleached Bone.
Various odd elements of stowage were painted with Rucksack Tan blended up with Bleached Bone.
Fuel drums and cans were Dark Flesh blended up with Bleached Bone.
Metallics are Boltgun Metal, highlighted up with Air Chrome, and washed with Badab Black.
Any black areas were Chaos Black, blended up with Bleached Bone, and edge highlighted (to do the chipping/weathering) with Air Chrome. This same process was applied to the guns of the infantry.
Searchlights and lenses were Trollblood blended up with Skull White, and washed with Sanguine Base.
Bases are Chaos Black blended up with Bleached Bone.

To do the weathering, I just used a Staedler 8B Art Pencil and drew on all the marks and chips (making sure to sharpen the pencil quite frequently). Lots of matte varnish was applied at various stages to minimize smudging while handling (especially on the Valkyries and Vendettas).

All told about a month and a half of continuous work went into the army from the airbrushing stages (which took a solid weekend) to the final chipping/weathering stage (which took about two weeks on its own).


DV8

Great weathering on the vehicles!

Awesome looking army, and the dice and codex cover are ace as well.

I'm not sold on the tank tread reconfigurations, but that is a minor thing overall...

Beautiful! I can't praise it enough.

Some of the vehicle bitz are places a little strangely (like the searchlights), but their painted so well that it took me awhile to even notice, due to being in awe over how really nice the models look.

Nice job! Have a trophy!

/Drool.......

Beautiful tanks man!

EDITED by Frazzled for potentially violating Rule #1.

quote dealt with post that has since been edited by moderators, so editing that comment as well. This army is absolutely beautiful, and one of the most "with it" armies I've ever seen, as everything looks so unified. I would love to see some complete army shots of everything together.

Wow

Great job! Fantastic work!

Great job at painting and presenting it.
My inner threadhead likes the correct amount at tracked vehicles.
I know it is meant to change the design of the chimera a bit, but I also favor the original over your variant of tracks.

The Background sheet was specifically made for them?
Fits well with the scheme but I thougth using such to take pics of your Models wouldn't show details and give you a camo effect.
Maybe a hint how to create pics on something that isn't white and still don't merge model and background?

my god! Well, not my god, but someones god's jaw just hit the floor! Your army is magnificent! the paint job is impeccable and incredibly realistic. Its hard to imagine someone with the patience to paint so many valkyrie's. I love the color of the uniforms, the colors work well with the krieg style. The bases also look great, I love that they are simple yet effective and keep the focus where is should be....on your characters. the fading, weathering, and battle/environmental damage to the tanks makes them look as if they are actually made out of metal plating! Awesome work!

Brother SRM wrote:quote dealt with post that has since been edited by moderators, so editing that comment as well. This army is absolutely beautiful, and one of the most "with it" armies I've ever seen, as everything looks so unified. I would love to see some complete army shots of everything together.

Ya, it was one of those comments you just roll your eyes and ignore.

Thanks for the painting breakdown... think I will have to try and use my airbrush for some shading/highlighting work now

Lovely army - would love to see and play against it in person.

REALLY well done, the painting is very good, and the convertions are really well done as well. Nice dice.

You did a great job on those guys and their vehicles. I like how you converted the chimera/hydra to resemble the L7 landing assault transports. Nice color scheme, different from the usual ash gray from FW painting of them(I have the 3 book Vraks campaign set)

Standing ovation for this awesome work sir!