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Howdy all, I'm new to Dakka and painting/wargaming in general, and I am going to try to track my progress with my two armies here to motivate myself to maintain steady progress, as well as encourage family members to join dakka and see my miniatures instead of emailing a bunch of pics around! I will try my best to add something new every few days of at least a WiP shot of whatever is on my painting tray. I play once a week with a small but really good group of guys and I would like to be able to field my entire army as painted (we normally play 2000 point games).

It is my goal to get all my miniatures for 40k painted (I will worry about the 500 or so LOTR models later, although I have a few done) and be able to field an Ultramarine (1st and 2nd Coy) and Imperial Guard (13th Canadian Combined Airborne and Mechanized Battle Group) army for the occasional Apocalypse game.

Comments and criticism are always welcome, as I said I am very new to painting. If you have any ideas for conversions, changes, etc, please let me know!

Did some experimenting with the camera, some results aren't too bad, some I will have to try and get better pics. Without further ado, here is the first batch (Warning Pic Heavy!);

Quick update, was working on the Russ's today, fixed a bunch of turrets and started a few smaller projects, pics for those will come later

The first pic is a close up on one of the Infantry squads, they were all bought on ebay, and painted by someone else, so I re-primed them with Army Painter's Olive Drab. It's a little light for my taste, but hopefully shading will fix that. I am going to try my hand at the quickshade dip, we'll see what happens. If I dont like it, I will pick something else for the other 11 squads I have to do.

Pics a wee bit fuzzy. Kinda hard to see details, but they look well done to me. I can see some nice crisp white and some great details.

Do you mind me asking where in Alberta you are? Just ignore me if it's a secret.

nice job on the models, i think i would chose the WW2 airborne cause there cool!

@bunnygurl: Thanks! I am still trying to get the best out of my camera, I will try some more pics today with some natural light instead.

@bigmek35: Thanks, I think the WW2 pattern is what I will go with, I will probably do the urban camo on the Kasrkin squads, and the Airborne one on the Storm Troopers with berets, otherwise they may look too much like Stallone in Demolition Man (not a terrible thing either tho).

I have a game today, it is the first in our tournament of a 3000 pt last man standing, I will try and get some shots of my army in action.

Cheers


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@bunnygurl: I am from a small town on the eastern side of Alberta called Wainwright btw, no big secret

If I can figure out how to transfer the pics from my phone to my computer I will post a few pics from my battle. It was annihilation, two on two, 2000 pts each. Two Ultramarine players against Blood Angels and Grey Knights. We were doing really well until the end and gave up a bunch of kill points and lost by 2 (I think it was 16-14). Oh well, it was still a lot of fun. I will likely be starting up Grey Knights when the new codex comes out...not a fan of the current all metal model army, plastic is just easier to work with.

Working on magnetizing some Dreadnought weapons tonight and then painting 4 tactical marines to finish off a squad.

A quick update before I take some more pics. I ran out of magnet so only did two Riflemen Dreadnoughts arms, and I did 5 Sniper Scouts and 5 CCW Scouts in an Urban camoflauge. In the meantime, here are some more of my Ultramarines:

In my defense I had some pretty bad roles and those +2 inv saves were brutal! With the pictures, try using a stand and not use the flash (having seem them in person I know they aren't that blue!) Rather use two lamps to light the models. It shows the colours alot better and they don't look like old school ultramaines. I'm gonna get my wife's SLR out one of these days to photograph mine one I finish them. We could probably do yours at the same time too (I'm still playing with the photography bit too)

thanks Merkava, I am painting and experimenting with the camera, working on some better shots. My Urban Camo SM scouts are almost done, and just in time for our campaign on Sunday!

Since 2nd Coy will be there, is 1st Coy coming out as well?

Wainwright...know the name but I've never been there.

Nice hazard stipes on the drop pod!

Thanks! Everything gets a black base coat (spray) before I paint anything else, it works well for me if I miss anything, and I drybrush Boltgun Metal over black for almost all my metallics. The hazard stripes were easier than I thought they would be since the doors were already black, I just added Iyanden Darksun.

I have another game today, I will bring my camera this time and gets some shots of a 1650 pt battle.

Sorry for the late update, real life stuff happening (taking pregnant wife on a 2 hour drive for a doctors appt, all is well!)

Here are a few pics from the battle last Sunday, I got trumped pretty good by the Space Wolves....ugh. At least my opponent was a really good guy and fantastic 40k player, so I cant feel too bad.

We'll see how I do next week, hopefully against a different player, no offence Danny

More WiP shots coming soon.

Here are some pics of my second attempt at using magnets, putting them on two Dreadnoughts and their twin linked autocannon arms from the Imperial Strongpoint set. I will also show a quick progression of 4 tactical marines that I needed to do to finish up a tactical squad.

Questions, comments are all still welcome!

Just a quick update today, here are some scouts in urban camo, these were the ones I finished just in time for last Sunday's game, you can see a few in the deployment shots from the above posts.

Apologies for the late update, my laptop's 6 month old hard drive died, and I am back on my old desktop computer. Here are some WiP shots of the first of three Valkyries. I painted the pilots and HB gunners to look like Canadian Forces flight crew, with tan crew suits and orange tinted lenses, it doesnt match up perfectly to real life, but it is close enough for what I need.

I also magnetized the wings in the Valk so that I can swap out the Twin-Linked Lascannons for the Punisher Gatling Cannons. These were from an old GI Joe anti-aircraft mount of some kind. The guns looked pretty cool and with minimal cuttiing and effort, and a bit of paint, they now provide some fire support for the Imperial Guard.

The base will be fairly plain on this one, I added a large rock to the sand to add some weight. The Valk is not glued to the flying stand so I definately dont want it falling over (I had to fix a Land Speeder Typhoon the other week, annoying)

C&C welcome

Just a quick update today, another 5 TH/SS Terminators ready for battle.

Tried the quickshade yesterday on my IG infantry squad, will take some pics when it is fully dried.

I got a few things done in the last few days so here you go. First of all, I bought a second-hand scratch built Warhound Titan that is just fantastic. It was extremely well-made, and I like the colour scheme as well since it would look at home with the IG and with my Ultramarines in any big battle. I didn't make it or paint it but I wanted to include it here due to level of awesomeness.

I changed the magnets on two other Dreadnoughts, so they work a bit better now, and both arms are done on both, I'm happy with the result.

I converted a Furioso Dreadnought to make a Chaplain Dreadnought to save myself some time and money rather than ordering from Forgeworld. I used a modelling saw to take the sarcophagus of the Death Company dread and the side panels of the Furioso dread so that I have a skull helmet for the interred Chaplain and the wings on either side of the main body. I'm pretty happy with the results, he does look like the one from Forgeworld, and I gave him Bloodclaws so he looks cool (not a legal upgrade I know, its just to represent having an extra close combat weapon).

The next one is the SM Land Speeder Scout with finished base. I like the idea of scout sqauds working together, so I used a spare SM Scout torso I had from the sniper set and put him on the half-legs from a vehicle sprue and put him on the base. Doesn't get to shoot anymore, but again, he looks cool.

I also finished up three IG characters, here are Col Straken, Commissar Yarrick, and Knight Commander Pask. I put Pask in a SM vehicle hatch, he now can fit in any of the Leman Russ turrets and I can swap him out to another tank between games if I want.

Two more Valkyries finished! One will be Col Paseski's "Steel Eagle" with snipers in place of Heavy Bolters, and the other is actually another Vendetta. Those Twin-Linked Lascannons never fail to do well on the table, so I will be fielding them from now on with my IG.

The next few are WiP shots of some infantry. The first one is of my Veteran Squad. I put Catachan arms on Cadian torsos, and a few other peices like SM Scout shotguns, a gunner from a Valkyrie, and a forgeworld Lasgun for my Vox operator. They look alright, I will be painting them after my Command Squad.

The next shot is some of the models for my Command squad as a WiP, the Officer of the Fleet that I got off a friend and is already painted very well, so he is going to stay as is, and a Master of Ordnance based on the other spare Valkyrie gunner. One of our Forward Observation Officers (FOO) from Afghanistan was a very cool and switched on Sgt, so he got the Power Fist with the Sgt chevrons on it. It is not a legal upgrade, but the hand holds the coffee cup that I made out of a spare piece of sprue (inspiration for this was from wonkobaggins' Catachan Special Forces P&M blog right here on DakkaDakka). He also has a pace stick, since Sgt's have them in the Canadian Forces and I had the bit for it. The one on the far right is the wounded Cadian, and I am giving him green stuff dust/sand/wind goggles. He will likely become an objective marker.

The last few are finished shots of an Infantry Squad that was pictured in an earlier post with the quickshade done, and two Vindicare assassins and a bodyguard model which is a Mastiff dog from Reaper that I painted to match my own dog. It was cheap and there is an armoured plate on the chest so I thought I would give it a try.

A quick update today about a side project and allied reinforcements for my IG. I have the two painted Vindicare assassins shown already, and now I have my finished Stormraven. The Grey Knight models are pretty cool and I couldnt resist, plus I am a big fan of the fluff and the fact that I dont have to have an all-metal model army. Plastic just offers more conversion opportunities for a beginner-level modeller such as myself.

All weapon options for the Stormraven turet have been magnetized. I will likely be getting another Stormraven or two, but for at least one in my army, I will want to have the Hurricane Bolters and Multi-Melta, so these have been glued.

Just a quick WiP update today, I have been working on some IC and a CCS, and also a Manticore conversion from a Basilisk. The barrel is an old gluestick, I had to cut away the shield plate on the front of the basi to make it fit, I think it will work once it is all painted and put together. Both crewmen have the peak caps and I will leave them on, the hats will be brown with a red stripe, it is an Artillery thing (in the CF anyway). I will be finishing all these two projects before the weekend.

There is a Heavy Weapons Team thrown in there as well for good measure, I figure I will paint an infantry squad or few IC at a time, and put a HWT with each infantry group I paint to hopefully speed the process (I have 17 HWTs, and about 170 infantry models, so it works out).

I will take turns between painting infantry and vehicles just to keep my interest up, and not get bored while painting.

Some updates from this weekend, the special characters and Coy Comd Sqaud are done, working on the Medusa now.

On another note, some Grey Knights arrived the other day in the mail. They have been cleaned, flash removed, built and undercoated. Some passengers for the Stormraven shown above.

***Apologies for the double post of the Medusa pic, I have been fighting a head cold since Saturday It has since been re-sprayed black for the under coat for the 2 sections of the hull, and is the next thing I will be painting. Finished pics on this hopefully coming soon.

There will be a bit of a delay before I can post anything new, as both my laptop and desktop are both down due to viruses. I am working on getting them both back up and running, and will hopefully be posting more pics soon. The Medusa is finished, as well as two Leman Russ Exterminators, so I am still painting during this down time. Next up will be some terrain in the form of a crashed Aquilla.

Sorry for the long delay, I have a new laptop that is working now, just trying to figure out how to transfer the photos from my camera to the computer. Hopefully I will be able to post some more very soon!

Finally a real update! Here are some finished shots of the Cadian/Catachan Veteran squad with meltaguns and shotguns. Also included is the Heavy Weapon Team I paint with every group of 10 infantry models on the side, this team will be part of a dedicated HWS and not in with these Vets, thanks for looking!

Another update today, here are the finished shots of the Medusa from above

So an update on some colour testing today. I finished a test model for my GK allies for my Apoc game allies, instead of the wave of silver that is sweeping the gaming community, I am going to try and paint them up as Heresy-era Adeptus Astartes, in gold armour with red as my spot colour.

The models were washed, cleared of flash, undercoated black with the citadel spray, base coated with tin bitz, then shining gold. Boltgun metal was drybrushed onto the storm bolter and magazines, chainmail for the halberd, mithril silver for the engraving on the armour, red gore for the helmet and purity seals, and bleached bone for the purity seal parchments. Will add a highlight later of chainmail on the edges of the armour.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

Here is my very first finished Jokaero weaponsmith model. I tried the technique described on GW, white undercoat, and many layers (I used 10) of gryphonne sepia. Boltgun metal for the rings and back pack, and enchanted blue for the eyes and lights.

Another Apocalypse only model, this time a Shadowsword baneblade variant. It was assembled slightly different with the turret mounted forward (like a huge T-34) so I could put the stubbers on the back deck. HB and Lascannon sponsons are mounted on the forward-most part of the hull.

There is also a finished shot of the Ratlings from an earlier post, the guys in the second rank were done already by a very talented friend, I just changed the bases to match the rest of my army. The guys in front have been re-glued, re-painted, and re-based. These guys are normally employed as two separate squads, stealth is a good thing. They shot down a Carnifex and a Talos pain engine in the last two games, so they got bumped up to the top of the painting pile!

Wow. that tank looks fantastic! Also, I really like the Punisher cannons on the Valkyrie a few posts back. Really really cool.

Thanks Joshh, much appreciated!

Now, unlike the punisher cannons from forge world, those look like they could do some real damage!

Great looking guard. I like the look of snipers giving support from a valk.