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Hey Dakka!

I worked up a Contemptor a little while ago (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/650153.page) for Iron Warriors, and after that I wanted to do a few squads of Great Crusade Era/HH Iron Warriors. I don't play HH or even 40k much anymore, but that has meant i can buy small squads of whatever I feel like modeling and painting without having to worry about if it'll ever be used on the table. I think these Iron Warriors will mostly be just for the hobby, but it may encourage me to play a few Kill Team or Zone Mortalis games.

After reading Angel Exterminatus and a few of the Black Library short stories, the IVth Legion has just really grown on me, to the point where I picked up a Breacher Siege Squad when I was in Nottingham last week;



I also grabbed the Iron Warriors Head Upgrade kit, specifically for those amazing "grill" faces. I'll scatter them in with some of the other Mk III helmets as I put together the squads.

Using the advice I got on the Contemptor, I threw together this guy, mostly out of Sternguard pieces. He's a Master of Ordinance, but mostly served as a test for getting the grit on the iron right and making the hazard stripes a little more worn and dirty too. I think it turned out pretty well, but I want to try using light yellow and grey to edge the stripes when I do the Siege squad.





The heat warping on the meltagun was also satisfying to pull off, and I think it turned out well, as well as his sickly but dirty skin tone. I'm hoping the techniques i learned from the Dread show on this guy, and that it'll get even better for the siege squad, but any tips or criticisms would be really helpful.

Also, here is a little plug for a short story I posted on the forums about Great Crusade Iron Warriors - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/656249.page

I enjoy the fluff and the cinematic aspects of the hobby, so this was a lot of fun to write and I hope to write up backstories for the characters I paint up as this blog continues; give it a read!

So next project is the Breacher Siege Squad, which will get painted up quickly. Thanks for taking a look!
Cheers,
Jpog

Well if your painting and modeling is as good as your writing, we're going to see some very awesome things here

The Master of Ordinance looks pretty good, the hazard stripes are a bit on the big side but that's just nitpicking The heat warping turned out great too, any chance you'll tell us how you did it?

@Ezra - Thanks, I'm glad you've taken a look at this! Your chaos blog certainly spurred me to start this and write some fluff for guys as I go.

As for the heat warping, I used a strip of Gehenna's Gold around the middle of the barrel, then a strip of Xerus Purple and the old Necron Abyss foundation at the end. Then a layer of thinned Leadbelcher to give a metallic quality to the purple and blue. I also added edge highlighting of Runefang Steel right around the barrel, where the heat would have almost liquefied the metal.

I like how this made the gun stand out a little, so I think I'll try adding it to more flamers of meltaguns as I go.

I am liking the master of ordinance! Are you planning on basing your guys?

@Ustrello - Yea I actually grabbed a basing idea from Ezra Tyrius' blog; is EC Terminator is on a burnt ground base, which I think would look cool for the Breacher Siege Iron Warriors, seeing as they are typically the front line.

Which brings me to a question - should i pick up some 32mm bases or just use the 28mm ones? I'd use 32 for the extra space to make a more creative base and I hear it makes the actual Space Marines look a little bulkier.

I have 28mm bases, so I wouldn't need to buy more and I think the shields might not fit side by side if i use larger bases, which is totally just an aesthetic preference.

Suggestions?

That's pretty funny, as I took that method of basing from a tutorial here on Dakka! The circle is complete!

By the way, I'm definitely going to try that heat warp effect, thanks for the info!

As for the bases, I think having the possibility of putting them in a shield wall formation is awesome, and it would make sense from a fluff perspective

Another thing to consider is how they'll look alongside the rest of the army, bigger bases will mean that they will stand out more from their non-32mm based peers. I've personally decided to not use 32mm bases yet, I'm going to save them for special characters or Chaos Chosen (if I ever figure out how I'm going to make those guys)

Depends on what you prefer, really

A shield wall would look cool, but the 32mm bases make them feel bigger and gives you more are to base with. Personally I just started using 32mm and I love them!

Thanks for the input guys, I think I'm still undecided, but basing the Sergeants/Characters on 32mm seems like a good compromise which I hadn't considered. For now, these guys are just blue-tacked to some spare bases.

I decided to extend what I'm getting out of the Breacher kit by including a few guys in Mk III armour without shields. They would (fluff wise) stand behind the wall and pick up the place of their fallen comrades. Also, I may try my hand at casting up some of the Iron Warrior heads. I know some people have issues with casting, but I'm exclusively a garage gamer so I won't be getting any flak from the friends in my group

Here are the first three just rank-and-file guys I did up;





Sorry for the quality, I didn't realize my new black desk would mess with the lighting so much, so I may need to go back to using my light box for photos.

I tried my hand at some example squad markings too, although I need to go back and touch up the chevrons on a few of their shoulders.

Breacher guys should be coming soon as well as my attempts at basing. Thanks for any comments!

Cheers,
Jpog

Hey Dakka!

I'm working on getting the casting process refined for some extra bits I want to use in the Siege Squad, so I haven't done a lot of work on them, but I've decided how I'll be playing them in games.

Because no one in my group plays 30k, I usually just proxy any models i do up for SM/CSM counterparts. I figure the Breacher Siege Squads would thematically make good Plague Marines, so I'll be running 18 of them in an upcoming round of Kill Team missions (3 squads of 6). That gives me enough points to give them some flamers or meltaguns within the 500 point limit we play with. It's good to know I'll actually be able to use them in a game, which motivates me to get the 18 done before my group plays again.

I should get most of the casting done this weekend, so expect more Iron next week.

However, rooting through my bits box, I discovered a lot of lightning claws left over from the Warp Talon sprue. I whipped six of these guys together over the past two days and painted up three. Here's a teaser;



Still working with the new lighting on my desk and the light box, but I think these Night Lords look alright! Are they 30k or 40k? Better question - is there much of a difference ?

Short update today, with a noticeable lack of the IVth Legion, but they'll come soon. And maybe a complete Terror Squad...

Thanks for taking a look and as always C&C are super helpful!
Cheers,
Jpog

The Night Lords look great! The skulls on their helmets are a nice touch

Any idea how you're going to base them? I suggest putting a couple of 'misplaced' limbs at their feet, as the Night Lords tend to leave a lot of those in their wake

@Ezra - Thanks, the Night Lords have turned out to be a fun little project, so I hope to see one make his way into The Remnants soon...

In terms of basing - I've just whipped up my first batch today! I went for an ashen wasteland sort of idea, and there are burning embers that you might not be able to see. EonsofBattle on Youtube and Dakka has a tonne of tutorials on basing, so this is taken from a few of those. on the bigger 32mm bases, I'll include little stumps of burning trees and more dynamic rubble and such.



And of course, the bases for the Night Lords have a few extra "bits" that the enemies just left around as they fled... they're taken from the ghoul bits from the Mantic kit. They seemed accurately mangled for all the RIP AND TEAR the VIIIth Legion is known for. And i think the blood on some of their weapons turned out ok. Not too excessive...







I think I'll try and flesh out 10 Night Lords in total, and more Iron Warriors should be coming this weekend. Also, I'm tempted to write another short story for some Night Lords, but I feel like I need to read A D-B's work before I try and get into the mind of the VIIIth.

C&C are always welcome and it keeps me motivated!

Cheers,
Jpog

Alright, so I've planned a series of 500 point games in a little over a weeks time, which I'm going to use to help motivate me to get models finished, as well as structure my Iron Warriors (and Night Lords i guess) into a proxied CSM list. It's just garage-game stuff, so this list isn't meant to be competitive or optimized, but I think it provides a good alternative to using the actual HH Legion rules. Maybe if I can get a hold of the Isstvan Campaign LRBs, I can use the legion rules. Anyways, here's the list:

-500 Points List-

10 CSMs + 9 CCW + Lightning Claws + Gift of Mutation = 183 points (These will be the 10 man Night Lord Terror Squad I've built up)

6 Plague Marines + Flamer + Gift of Mutation = 159 points

6 Plague Marines + Flamer + Gift of Mutation = 159 points (These will be the two squads of Iron Warrior Breacher Siege Squads I'll build)

-Total = 501 Points-

I figure these are pretty good proxies for the models, and having a list will help me know what I need to get done for the games. I'll throw pictures up too, cause the group I play with likes to field painted models too.

AND NOW TIME FOR PICTURES!

So I've continued to work on Night Lords (despite the "theme" on this blog), with 5 painted and the other 5 mostly built. I think I'll finish up these guys before moving on to the Iron Warriors, but painting has stopped due to my primer running out in the middle of painting





They're made out of a mixture of Mk III casts, Warp Talon, Possessed, CSM, and some Sternguard. I'm surprised I was able to make 10 guys with minimal cast parts - with a little creativity you can really extend some of the GW kits! Two guys still need backpacks, which I hope is why they look a little stunted beside the rest. Also, all the bases for the three squads are done except for the 32mm bases that I want the Champions on, which I'll pick up when I get more primer too.

The Night Lord Champion is a little bigger and more unique than the rest of the squad, I wanted him to be the most... well terrifying member of the Terror Squad. Still needs a name and some backstory, but expect that when he's painted!







Anyways, these last 5 will be finished this weekend and I'll pump out the 12 Iron Warriors after that. C&C are really appreciated, and thanks for taking a look!

Cheers,
Jpog

Hey Dakka!

I've re-branded the blog a little bit as I continue to work on Night Lords and think about how I would "hypothetically" approach painting Alpha Legion. Iron Warriors are actually in this update though, so that's a step forward!

I finished up the Terror Squad, got new primer and 32mm bases and whipped up Flaymaster Ioan for the Night Lords and Captain Candax of the Iron Warriors 64th Grand Company's Breacher Siege Squads.

Flaymaster Ioan is first;









I did a little fluff for this guy, not as long as the Iron Warriors short story i did earlier, but flavour text;

His hand was shaking. It had been only a few minuets since the screams of his fellow militia-men had ceased over the vox, but the silence was almost worst. Remembering them tied horrible knots in his stomach, like his terror was trying to physically claw out from inside him. Peering over the barricade, he saw nothing. No movement, no muzzle fire, no light. The laspistol nearly shook out of his hand as he lamely aimed it into the darkness.

The tension in his chest climbed as he began to sweat. Everyone was dead: the darkness hid their dead faces and mutilated bodies, but he knew they were there. He could do nothing to stop agents of such horror. The gun dropped to his feat as he felt himself stand up, petrified instincts now directing his actions rather than any semblance of reason. He rose, tempted to scream just so the enemy would find him and end the incredible pain he felt. His hands tensed like claws, ready to tear at his own insides an release sickness in his gut as he rose above the barricades, and his feet lifted off the ground.

Four long, silver blades extended out from his chest by almost a foot. They were glossy with what had to have been his blood. A voice came from behind him, quiet but still painful to hear,

"This will not be quick..."

I think the 32mm bases really work, makes him look a little bigger but not like he isn't part of the squad. And the kit-bashing with the Warp Talon wings turned out nice too, added some bulk I think.

and Captain Candax! I'm still experimenting with where I want to put hazard stripes, but it was nice to paint Iron Warriors again. He'll be in my Breacher Siege squads, but not actually carry one.









With the 10 Night Lords done, I hope to work on the 11 remaining Iron Warriors before my hobby ADD pushes me any closer to other Legions I've been thinking about, but I think Konrad or Perturabo may be coming down the pipe pretty soon - I've already painted Angron and Fulgrim despite me not really enjoying their Legions aesthetic.

So thanks for taking a look, please leave and C&C you have for my writing or my painting - I'm always motivated by the prospect of trying new techniques.

Cheers,
Jpog

Good work ! Yeah that backpack on the Flaymaster really works. And I am really fond of the pose of Capt. Candax, one of a leader of men.
My eyes might be messed up since I am just outta bed, but is that right arm from a specific sprue or did you make it ?

Thanks KernelTerror - yea the right arm is actually a bolt pistol from the CSM sprue, but with the pistol just cut off. I think it worked really well with the other hand on the hilt of the sword.

Hey Dakka!

Finally - The Breacher Siege squad I promised at the beginning are finally done! I took this picture about halfway through, and ended up playing a game with them with everything but the hazards stripes done!

Here they are the morning of the game (apologies for the quality, I'm away from my light box):



And here they are now!



I am considering adding Iron Warrior emblems and roman numeral "IV"s to some of their shields, over the hazard stripes obviously and then adding some wear and tear to them. What do you guys think? Also, here's a close up of the other squad sergeant, so far with no name but he's a bit more of a front-lines guy than Candax, hence the facial scars and chainsword.





To close off, one of the guys who played in the 500pt game took some really nice action shots, so I'm gonna throw up my two favourites: A close up of my Night Lords in action poses, and the half-painted Iron Warriors charging the last survivor of some intense fire.





I'm not sure what my next project will be, maybe some more Night Lords, Iron Warriors, or a primarch Alpha Legion and Raven Guard have also been sounding more and more appealing, which is always the dangerous first signs of an impending order. Stay tuned, but thanks for taking a look, and as always C&C is great at keeping me motivated.

Thanks for taking a look, Cheers,
Jpog

 Jpogfreak886 wrote:
Hey Dakka!

Alright, so this is how we lost Waterloo, bloody Iron Warriorellington !

Very nice squad anyway, but yeah there is definitely some room left for freehand on the shields, that should keep you busy while you next (hopefully not loyalist ^^) squad is being shipped !

@ KernelTerror - That's the history they don't teach you in school, but I know the truth Also, your greenstuff work for the Warp Wanderers is awesome, I hope to do a little more sculpting as I continue to explore the hobby. And don't worry, I've got a more traitor projects brewing in my mind right now...

As for freehand, ask and you shall receive! I actually liked how these two designs turned out and I think I'll alternate between both of them so there is a roughly even number in each squad.Also, I've decided to start hosting my images on Dakka, which has a bunch of great tools to adjust your image to make it look better (read when my light box still makes things look yellow)



I'm thinking of starting some Thousand Sons, converting my own heads and using Crusade Armour (seeing as they dropped out of the crusade, they wouldn't have needed Mk IV or VI and they really don't seem like a Iron Armour force) but that's risky seeing as FW seems to be focusing on pumping out the upgrade kits for all 18 Legions even if they don't have rules yet. We'll see.

Anyways, thanks for taking a look and I'll be working on finishing up the Iron Warriors. C&C are always welcome and thanks for taking a look!

Cheers,
Jpog

Really cool night lords you have, and the Iron Warrior breachers look great too, although personally I would have put the Company's number on the shields, their colours already identify them as IVth Legion, and I'm not a fan of the Iron Mask freehand (even though its miles away from my best attempts at freehandI).

Great work anyway, keep it up.

As for Thousand Sons, that would make this Plog have my top three favourite legions featured, which would be pretty awesome, but I understand that waiting may be better, and at the speed FW are putting the upgrade kits out you may not have to wait too much anyway.

Thanks JPog, and nicely done shields, that is very clean freehand. Hope you feel comfortable reproducing that helmet on other shields ^^ !

Would be great to see thousand sons here, but that is tough luck picking one of the four last legions forgeworld has left out (for now) ^^ !

Keep it up man !

@aldo - Thanks, I've enjoyed making the Night Lords a little too much, so a Second Claw might be in the works. The company marking might be a better idea, but I'm still a little unsure of what Legion organization looks like, and what a company entails exactly, especially for the Iron Warriors who it seems also have Grand Companies.

@KernelTerror - Yea, I'm thinking of maybe drawing out a tutorial for myself and breaking it down into simple shapes so the faces are more reproducible xD

Hey Dakka!

Small update, I've tried my hand at putting company numbers rather than Legion number for my Iron Warriors, which I like in concept but it was actually difficult finding a number that didn't look awkward (CLIV or CIV or CLIX) but that also wasn't too long to put on the shields! I'm not quite happy with the result, but It'll just take a little practice with freehanding I hope.



Also, I'm not happy with the white-washed images I'm getting. I've been working with a lightbox, but only a few desk lamps to actually light it. Is this the issue people take about for "white balancing" images? Someone with some knowledge on taking small pictures help me out

Also, I recently helped someone sort through their old stuff, and I came into possession of a nice gang of Necromunda Eschers! I've just finished reading the first book from A-DB's Night Lords trilogy, and figured these ladies would make a good Nostroman gang, living in the lower parts of the ship. I've painted up one so far and enjoyed working with models I've never seen before.

Are people interested in seeing these gangers painted up, or should I keep that off the blog and focus on getting some more power armour out?





Again, the damn white haze on that model is really bothering me, but Dakka's suggested adjustments made the leather and dark brown parts just seem black.

C&C are always welcome. Thanks for taking a look,
Cheers,
Jpog

Nice work with the freehanding, although the numbers could look a bit more 'Roman' in style (as in, with stripes above and under them) in my opinion

The gangers look good too, if you feel like they belong alongside your heretical power armoured goons then don't hesitate to include them in this plog!

As for the white haze in your pictures, have you tried playing with them in Photoshop? I usually use the 'Levels' layer mask to get the whitebalance right

Hell yeah Eshers ! I would also vote for displaying them here alongside the heretic Astartes;
After all, as any inquisitor would see, such murderous company screams heresy !

No pictures update - Wooooooo!

In all honesty, I've still been working on hobby stuff, just very little HH. Someone in my gaming group ended up moving to the states on short notice and had to unload his 40k, so I recently became the owner of a IG and Tau army, which I've been sorting through and taking stock of. I won't post WIP pics of the stuff I do for those armies, but the Tau may sneak their way in every so often if I finish a squad or something.

As for 30k - I tried a few designs with the Iron Warrior shields, but I ended up not liking any of the company markings or icons, so I painted it over and decided to stick with hazard stripes and weathering. They've also seen more fighting in a few Kill Team missions, preforming admirably.

I finished up a few more Escher Gangers, in Night Lords-esque colours so I'll upload some pictures of them. As for Night Lords, i grabbed some of the helmet upgrade kits and some MkIV armour to do up a second Claw, again fleshed out with Warp Talon bits. Those should be arriving soon, and I hope to use the MkIV armour for some other Legions too. I also have started work on mixing the CSM Terminator kit with Assault Termie Lightning Claws to make some Atramentar, although I know the armour variant won't be right for 30k. I jsut think the chains, heads and bags really fit NL, even in their pre-chaos state.

I also made a list of which Mk I MOST associate each Legion with. I know every legion used multiple varients across squads or even for individuals, but this is just a general tendency. If this helps you pick a variant for your own Legion, feel free to take a look, although I mostly did it so I know which Mk's I would use the most as I do more Legions;



So I think I would actually get good use out of some Mk II armour, although those Legions may still be a bit down the road. Also, I'm thinking of doing a Shattered Legions squad, like a 10 man group from across multiple legions. We'll see.

So expect more Night Lords soon, and maybe some Alpha Legions guys soon too. Also better pictures; I've been working with white balance and Photoshop to increase the quality of my pictures.

Thanks for taking a look, cheers,
Jpog

Awesome blog! Consider me subbed

I would love to see you have a go at some Thousand Sons seeing as I am working on much the same project and if you are searching for some good parts to make them out of here are a couple of handy links for you!

http://wargameexclusive.com/shop/kits-and-bits/thousand-sons-marines-conversion-set/

http://www.thewarstore.com/product92070.html

Cool stuyf. Both the Night Lords and Iron Warriors are looking excellent.

D

@Commander Cain thanks for the support! Yea, Thousand Sons are gonna be cool to do, especially with all the amazing conversion pieces out there. I'm interested to see what FW does, and how much they end up looking like the 40k heads

@evildrcheese thanks - its been fun to flex my painting muscles by doing smaller individual projects, although the Night Lords seem to have snagged my attention for the time being.

Speaking of which...

Small Atramentar update!

5 man Terminator squad is built, using mostly the CSM Termies but also Lightning Claws and power weapons to make the squad look uniquely but adequately decked out. I'm still waiting on the Terror Squad heads, one of which I'll give to the captain if it fits alright.





Obviously WIP, but i wanted to grab some pictures so you know what I'm working on - I hope to get a Second Claw done soon or some Night Raptors, but maybe some Alpha Legion or another Mk IV Legion first.

As always, C&C please! I hope to get these 5 guys done for Wednesday; we're doing a 6 way 200pt Kill Team battle. Maybe I'll grab some pictures of that.

Cheers and thanks for taking a look,
Jpog

Oooh that skull-like white on the head works really well, keep it up.

@KernelTerror Thanks, I think it really helps define the face, especially on the Terminators. The "Midnight Clad" is a little dark and I find I loose some of the detail.