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I've lurked in the P&M blogs with the occasional comment, and have been really inspired by what I see here. I decided to do my own P&M blog as my army slowly progresses. I hope that as I give occasional updates, this will help me keep track of my progress, and inspire me to keep the momentum up to actually get this army done. I've been working on it for far too long -- but it seems it is much harder to find the time as a self-employed professional and father of four than it was back in university when I was able to crank out an army from assembly to fully painted in a few months.

So, first off, here is some of what I HAVE (mostly) completed so far, namely the first of two platoons of infantry. I haven't done the bases yet, because I want to do a bunch of them at once to get a consistent look, plus I am waiting for low-humidity conditions to seal them and then add some static grass.



A closeup of the Rough Riders' Sergeant:



Inquisitor Ambro (who, as the name suggests, is my Inquisitorial take on Guardsman Marbo) and some henchmen (who will be part of the CCS):



What I've decided to focus on for the moment is vehicles. Pictured below are all seven of the vehicles that will be featured in the list I hope to bring to the next tournament hereabouts, if I can actually get it done (famous last words, considering I was hoping to have most of this stuff completed back in June).

So we have four Chimerae, one to carry the CCS, one to carry first platoon's command squad, and then two more for my platoon led by Captain Aleksandr Rachemovicz (Al'Rahem). Then we've got three battle tanks to provide the heavy support. Over the past few weeks I assembled them, and this week I added all the bits of stowage, gear, and camouflage netting. The camo netting is just some medical gauze from the first aid kit. The stowage is some 1:35 WWII stuff I got off eBay for cheap from Verlinden Productions. I got the idea to put a lot of stowage on the vehicles from looking at real-world war pictures. I really noticed in those how much "junk" tanks carry around on them.



Closer view of the tanks:



And a closeup of the CCS chimera, which is done up Inquisition-style since my army is led by an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus. I used Forgeworld Inquisition Rhino bitz to differentiate it from the regular Chimerae in the army. This also features my first-ever attempt with plasticard modelling in order to make the front armour fit:



... And lastly, another shot of the outflanking platoon's chimerae:


Next step: undercoating (yes, I have a firm grasp of the obvious). It will almost certainly be several weeks before I post any pictures of these vehicles painted, but I hope to get the undercoating done this weekend as long as the humidity stays down (likely a vain hope in this climate). In any event, I hope you enjoy what I've posted so far and that this will keep me on-track.

And sorry for the massive pics ... is there a way to post smaller versions, that when someone clicks on them, you go to the full-sized version?

This is looking really good. As a fellow IG player, I can't wait to see some paint on those tanks!

Have you tried uploading the images to the Dakka gallery and linking from there?

Great start to your army!

Love the DKoK tankers, and the fluff of an Inquisitor leading your troops

I'm glad you've got some plans for basing, that was the first thing that struck me. Will you do anything besides static grass?

There are a few little things that would help a lot, IMHO: drill out the flamer barrels and straighten out that Company Commander's powersword (I know, the paint will probably crack, but I think it will be worth a bit of repaint to get that sword un-bendy)

Great stuff here, definately subbed!
Rawson

Thanks for your comments and subscription. It definitely inspires me to keep up the pace and get this stuff done.

@Myelinated Axon: I uploaded these pics to my personal website, so I'll try the Dakka gallery with the next batch and see if that works.

@Rawson: Thanks for the tips. I've bored-out all the weapons on the tanks but hadn't thought to do that on the platoon HQ flamers. As for the officer's sword, I've tried to straighten it three times already and it keeps going back. Maybe I'll try a fourth time with the hot water-cold water technique which seemed to work a bit better with some other minis I tried it on.

For the bases I bought The Army Painter's Battlefields Sci Fi Starter Set, so there'll be some grey flock, some brown flock, and bits of static grass. Which reminds me I should buy some more of that stuff now to ensure I have enough for everyone and it matches.

 NWansbutter wrote:
As for the officer's sword, I've tried to straighten it three times already and it keeps going back. Maybe I'll try a fourth time with the hot water-cold water technique which seemed to work a bit better with some other minis I tried it on.

Sorry to hear that! Resin can be such a pain sometimes. Good luck on your next attempt!

Have to say that I find that the Finecast resin stays straight after adjustment better than the Forgeworld resin does. It would be niced if I could get that officer's sword straight!!

Really liking your DKoK!
Always wanted to get an army of them myself.
Also liking the Inquisitor/Witch Hunter great model.

 Rawson wrote:
There are a few little things that would help a lot, IMHO: drill out the flamer barrels and straighten out that Company Commander's powersword (I know, the paint will probably crack, but I think it will be worth a bit of repaint to get that sword un-bendy)

Well, the hot-water followed by cold-water technique appears to have worked as the sword is staying straight. And the paint didn't even crack. I also drilled-out the flamer barrels and they look good.

Here are some progress shots for you (trying out the Dakka gallery this time), since I haven't actually completed much since I last posted. But progress has been made at least. The "fixed" platoon command squad:



The Russes about 3/4 of the way done. Just need to paint-up all the stowage and commanders, and get some battle damage and mud/dirt/dust onto them:



Finished a 5-man squad of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers (except for basing and sealing, of course):



And finally, four Roughriders that I'm converting to carry meltaguns. I will be doing some green stuff work right after posting this message to tidy them up (mostly fixing hands, and adding a sling to the one who's holding his melta in a firing position):

Subbed! DKOK rule!

No Grenadiers as stormtroopers? Booooooooh!

With that said, its a lovely army so far.

Lovely stuff! The sheer number of tanks you have ready for paint is VERY daunting though, requires serious motivation to get through that little lot! Having said that you clearly have the skill to make it a stunning army, those first russ's look great, can't wait to see some weathering no them, (my personal favourite part of tanks!) Will be keeping both eyes on this, keep it up!

Thanks for reading and posting. Your comments definitely gives me the needed motivation.

@Bobthehero -- with the inquisition theme, I opted to make my grenadier models into veterans with the grenadiers doctrine so that I could have inquisitorial storm troopers. You'll see them eventually, but at the moment I'm debating over what list I want to bring to a tournament next year and therefore what to prioritize. For now tanks and rough riders are top priority.

 NWansbutter wrote:

Well, the hot-water followed by cold-water technique appears to have worked as the sword is staying straight. And the paint didn't even crack. I also drilled-out the flamer barrels and they look good.

Glad to hear it!

 NWansbutter wrote:

Great scheme for your tanks. Love it!

It's been a while, but I finally have battle damage and grime on one of the tanks. Please let me know what you think before I seal it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out -- nice and filthy, the way tanks thrown from battle-to-battle with no down time should look. Now that they're uploaded I realize that I didn't have enough light -- making the images really dark. You can't even tell that the tank commander's been painted/highlighted. But I think it gives you the flavour.

It's been quite a while since I posted an update, but here is the most recent completion, the Watchmaster for my Grenadier Storm squad. I modelled him such that he can double as a counts-as Sgt. Bastonne when I take the grenadiers as carapace vets in a normal IG list.

1) How'd you get the mask/helmet there

2) Faces are heresy!

1) I just chopped it off and put it in his hand. Using a sharp knife i just made a cut between the top of the collar and bottom of the helmet, then made a similar cut on the other side. Knife was necessary for the cut to be thin. Believe I used the left arm from the grenade launcher set.

2) Well, my army uses DKoK models, but they aren't actually DKoK. They're a DIY regiment from another planet that uses very similar equipment.

If its any consolation, I am now using DKoK Assault Brigade list for my army, so those Grenadiers ARE Grenadiers now. The Kasrkin painted as Inquisitorial Stormtroopers will either be second Grenadier Storm Squad or something from the new Codex: Inquisition due out next week.

It all looks great!

How'd you get the medical gauze to stick to the tanks? white glue?

Zambro wrote:

How'd you get the medical gauze to stick to the tanks? white glue?

Affirmative.

I've been planning a Jungle themed guard army to start just after Xmas (gotta finish my current project - there is a link in sig, if your interested). And i was planning to do something like that. I've found a few pics of painted gauze as camo netting in the gallery, but never really asked how to do it.

How much of a pain is it to paint? I imagine that the white glue soaks in and it becomes completely solid

That's awesome! Never seen a DKOK with his helmet off
The medal is a nice touch aswell

Thanks for the comments.

And apologies to Zambro for not answering your question -- The gauze isn't too much of a problem to paint. I used lots of white glue so it got quite hard, then undercoating made it a good painting surface. Just due to the texture it took a fair bit of painting.

Anyway, I finished the rest of the squad:

This is a fantastic plog!

Love the use of the witchunter! I used the same model for my inquisitor!

Glad you like it torealis!

Tonight I completed the Inquisitorial Storm Trooper squad (with two different weapon loadout options):

Here is the platoon command squad, now properly based, and accompanied by a commissar and Lt. Chodkiewicz's Calligraphus Servitor, which he has incorporated into his command squad to record his heroic words and actions (perhaps he has a bit of an inflated opinion of himself given how easy platoon commanders die but on he other hand I use DKoK Assault Brigade Rules so he gets to return to the battle when he's knocked out -- sprinting back to grab fresh troops from reserves maybe!)





Then there's the grizzled old Commissar from Praetoria, Commissar Roderick Gaffney Drurary III:



Edited to fix broken links.