Just a little pre-amble; the background to all this is that I promised myself I would make an Army Profile here on Dakka and link to it in my forum signature for every successfully 100% completed painted army that I finished. It has been slow going so far, granted, but this is now finished army number two!
Full Army Photo
Army List
Obviously, editions and codexes have changed since this army was begun but generally speaking it looks something like this:
- HQ – Draigo or Terminator Librarian
- HQ – Stern or Crowe
- Paladin Squad with Apothecary and Banner Bearer
- 5 man Terminator Squad
- 5 man Terminator Squad
- 10 man PAGK squad
- 5 Purifiers
- 2 Dreadnoughts
- 5 man Purgation squad
- 5 man Interceptor squad
- Stormraven Gunship
Horribly uncompetitive and unbalanced I am sure, but I am not a competitive player; I just build armies around the units that I like, that I already have or that I have salvaged from Ebay or other trades.
Unit Photos
Headquarters
Kaldor Draigo:
Terminator Librarian:
Troops
Terminator Squads:
Standard Power Armoured Grey Knights squad:
Elites
Paladins:
Dreadnoughts:
The Dreadnoughts are a mix of old and new. The one on the right started life as an old metal Blood Angels Dreadnought that I acquired in a trade many moons ago. It was caked in thick, gloopy paint so this is my attempt at a rescue job. Took absolutely ages to strip it!
Fast Attack
Interceptor Squad:
Stormraven Gunship:
Heavy Support
Purgation Squad:
Why I Started This Army
When the (5th Edition? I think it was that one!) codex came out, I liked the look of the new plastic Grey Knights Terminator and PAGK kits that came out and it happily coincided with a bonus from work so I bought a bunch of stuff en masse, Grey Knights also being one of the few 40k races/forces that I didn't have an army for so I was inspired to take the plunge. Like most of the waves of inspiration that hit me, it kind of fizzled out and the Grey Knights were added to my ever-growing 'to do' pile. More recently, another blast of motivation has hit me and I figured being a small model count, elite force would be ideal to get painted up quickly and after some searching for the right paint technique, I got it done in under a month, which by my slow painting standards and procrastination, is very rapid indeed!
Colour scheme details
As is usually the case, my lighting/photography leaves a lot to be desired and doesn't really do justice to the end product. I think these models are by far the best I have painted so far and given that I used a 'speed painting' technique on them, I am very pleased with how they turned out.
I took quite a long time to settle on a method for painting them that satisfied both my aesthetic and my time consumption criteria. My painting speed could charitably be described as glacial so in an effort to actually get some damn armies painted, I adjusted my standards and now try and pick colour schemes that fit in with a certain criteria - that is to say, to be as quick as possible without compromising too much on looks and quality. With a job and two kids, the time I find to paint is limited, so I must be able to 'plug and play' as much as possible and maximise what little time I have.
So to that end, the scheme I chose for my Grey Knights, after much experimentation and heartache to find the right kind of blue steel tinge I was looking for, I came up with the following process:
1. Undercoated with Halfords grey primer.
2. Sprayed with Halfords 'BMW Arctic Silver' spray
3. Wash with a 50:50 mix of Nuln Oil/Water
4. Wash with a 5:1 mix of old GW Blue Ink/Water
5. Red bits done with Mechrite Red
6. Gold bits done with Auric Armour Gold, washed with Gryphonne Sepia.
7. Power/force weapons done in Ice Blue with a Guilliman Blue glaze
The photos don't do justice to the blue tinge - I am very pleased with the results; not too subtle, not too overpowering and a good use of some old GW ink that was festering away in a box in my cupboard, unused and unloved!
