Hey all - I'm new to the forum.

This is my first crack at a 40k army, I'm usually a WHFB guy, so I thought I'd post the stuff here since TwF isn't too 40k friendly.

Anyway, the army is going to be based on an SF Company, so 5 teams (veteran squads) that each have a specialty. All of them will have a Valkyrie or a Vendetta as a designated transport. Thematically, I'm trying to play up the individuality of each guy/squad rather than maintaining uniformity across the army.

Without further ado, here is 1st team (assault), Devil Company, 7th SF Battalion, 187th Catachan Infantry. Everyone's got a shotgun, and one dude has a demolition kit:

Here's their transport, the "Pork-Chop Express". All the Valks in the Company will have the stylized devil's wings painted on the wings.

The interior is redone with Catachan door gunners.

The "Pork-Chop Express" logos were pulled of the truck in "Big Trouble in Little China"


Here's a close up of the pilot, Jack Burton

Here's the team assaulting out of the back

And here's a close up of the NCOIC, SGT Stearns

And finally, here are a few shots of the team members:




Hope you like it; comments and criticisms are welcome.

Wonko

I like it a lot

The men have interesting poses, the Valkyrie's stunningly well painted, and overall you've done a very slick and appetising job.

Grats, looking forward to more cool stuff from you, new guy.

Oh, and welcome to Dakka, I'm sA, pleased to meet you.

sA

Wow loving The Pork Chop Express! makes me think about having a go at a small Catachan force to go with my Cadians!

Great work, looking forward to seeing more from you.

Welcome to Dakka!

I love the character of the squad. It's one of the things that is missing from a lot of armies and makes them seem a bit meh. Character, to me, is more important that the overall paintjob so it's nice to see that these are well painted also.

I would suggest dulling down the exposed metal on the valkyrie with some black wash. Other than that, I would love to play a game against you and wipe your loyalist peons from the face of the galaxy

Welcome to Dakka and keep up the good work.

Thanks for the critique on the exposed metal - I'll try washing it. I'm not too familiar with this vehicle stuff yet.
Yeah, I really wanted this army to have character - otherwise why play the guard at all right? Honestly I don't even know how to play the game yet, so I'm not sure how viable an all veteran army will be, but I guess I don't care about winning too much.

I'll post the WIP shots of the next squad either tonight or tomorrow.

Wonko

#1 - Love the Pork Chop Express decals - great stuff!
#2 - I'm also loving the GS'd boonie cap and cowboy hat - very inspiring for me to get around to my Predator-themed Catachan Vet squad (with Sgt Harker as Blaine, natch)

I like, very cool looking, the character of the squad is a welcome change to the norm, only thing i can say is try differentiating from the different men in the squad, like, if they have names, give them unique poses/gear etc

Yeah, they'll definitely all get names eventually.

Here's the WIP shots of the next squad - they've got a little more green stuffing left, but their poses are complete.
They're going to be an infiltration squad, so they'll all be camo'd up and have claymores (defensive mines)

NCOIC, RTO, and point man (he's chopping down vegetation)

2 plasma gunners

3 lasgunners

2 guys emplacing claymores (defensive mines)


I'll post more as it's available!

love the claymore poses, they win

This just keeps getting better!

I like their hats.

They look great
Having each model as an individual instead of having everyone uniform and roughly the same looks great.

Love the painting quality and poses. Those models just radiate character and flavour. Great job.

This is some great work, all the detail work is impressive. Thanks for sharing it, look forward to seeing the next squad.

BTW- if you have a sniper will you give him a boonie with a white feather in the hat band and name him Hathcock?

Do you have anything more painted?

very nice! i too applaud the big trouble/little china and predator references.

Good lookin' Catachans, but I do have one suggestion. I don't like the look of the tree on Sergeant Stearns, it just looks too
skinny and off. Maybe bulk out the trunk or something, I dunno. Other than that, I like the hats on em, and the valk looks great!

Alright, I've got the second squad mostly finished - all that's left is painting the flock and adding some aquarium plants. As you can see, since the last WIP shots I've added a good amount of facial hair to the models. Nothing says special forces like a beard after all.

First, the NCOIC, SFC Apone, his RTO and his point man:


Next are the 3 lasgunners - the left one even has battle-action sideburns:


And what squad would be complete without the 2 plasma gunners. The right guy has the shades/beard thing going on, although it's hard to make out because of the hat:


Finally, the 2 guys working on burying mines:


And that's all for these guys. When the flock dries, I'll paint it up and add the plant life.

Next up I'm working on a Sly Marbo conversion and 2 of the regimental advisers for the command squad. By the way, not being a 40k guru, I have no idea how to equip my commander. The squad is going to stand back and provide fire support - should he just have a bolter?

Let me know what you think,

Wonko

I love the grizzled chap with the beard. I am looking forward to seeing your take on Sly as well.

HURRY UP!!

Patience grasshopper. Wise man say Warhammer take time with job and 2 kids.

My fleet advisor is based on this guy though...
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/13/90513-004-B26B8C5C.jpg

Wonko

god i love that valkyrie. and the heavy flamer dude is funny lol!
good work

"The Pork Chop Express"!!! Nice homage to Big Trouble In Little China...although it lacks the running piggie.

great work

Dude, it definitely has the running piggy - check out the cargo door.

ancientsociety wrote:"The Pork Chop Express"!!! Nice homage to Big Trouble In Little China...although it lacks the running piggie.
great work

It is on the gunners door.

This army is looking awesome . As for your commander if he is going to sit back what I do with my command squad is I break up his 4 body guard into 2 las cannon squads , this way he can reach out an touch a tank and always has something to give the bring it down order too and its a nice way to have bs4 las cannons . You can also have the bombardment adviser in there too .

Alright, here's the next update.

First, the completed squad posing for their "cover of soldier of fortune magazine" photo. Who doesn't love soldier of fortune after all?

Next are the 3 regimental advisers for the Company. From left to right you have the air traffic controller (astropath), air cavalry liaison (master of the fleet), and forward observer (master of artillery). I don't like the idea of psykers in the force, so the air traffic controller seemed to be a natural choice - he's holding a pair of light sticks ah la Top Gun. The air cav liaison is based on the colonel in Apocalypse now - as was indicated by the picture a few posts ago. Cav guys love their hats and belt buckles! Just ask one. Finally, the FO was a no-brainer, he's got his binos, radio and compass, and he's ready to rain horribly inaccurate fire on the enemy (friends too!) just like his real life counterparts.

Finally, here's my take on Sly Marbo. I focused on the demo charge toting lunatic portion of his fluff, and took the "few have seen his face, and no one has heard him speak" bit to mean that maybe he wears the creepy medical mask provided on the command sprue.



Let me know what you think - I do love comments and criticism. Oh, and I know my greenstuff work is a little ham fisted. So sue me, I can't get the especially fiddly bits to look quite right.

Wonko

Loving them
Some wonderful painting
Keep it up


ABH

Brilliant miniatures, full of character!

As for Marbo: I like the medical mask, but his neck needs fixing. Also, the pistol would require something a tad more special IMO, considering it's rules. He's looking very ninja though, pretty cool.

What I would suggest for sly is cut off the barrel stick on a fat piece of plastic rod make it look like a silencer , and put a scope on it as well . Besides that its all ace .

Ooo a silencer and a scope. That's a great idea, I'll do it this evening. I'll touch up his neck too.

I really, really like these! You've done a great job making them seem very characterful!

Can't wait to see some more of these!

Cheers,

Jack.

I've never been into Catachan although I like their Fluff, their proportions and heads put me right off. But I do love originalty, and these conversions a simply brillant.

One more update today - I got off work early.

Here's the sniperized version of Sly's pistol. It's a little puffy, but I'll file it smooth when the putty hardens.

And here's my first weapon team. I had to go with autocannons since I need the lascannons for a Vendetta conversion, but from what I read, AC's aren't too terrible either. I wanted something more dynamic than a static machine gun position since the squad's going to be jumping off an aircraft, so here they are, double timing into position. Sucks to be them, that gun looks heavy.



Enjoy,

Wonko

This looks really really good. Also, If you cut the stand for the autocannon up a little, you can make it look like it's been folded up, like it would be in real life. Here's a picture (a little blurry) of one which I did.

Actually I left the tripod locked out on purpose. When I was on an MG team, it was our SOP for the AG to lock the tripod out and carry it over his shoulders when hastily moving the gun. For longer movements we'd fold and stow the tripod, but I envision these guys having it all prepped and ready on the bird and running out as soon as it touches down. Of course we never jumped an autocannon mind you, but an M2 isn't too far off.

Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you dig the models.

Wonko

The flu slowed things down a bit this weekend, but here's the completed company command squad.

First, MAJ Steel. He's got a beret (who but an officer would wear it into the jungle?), a chest rack (everybody likes chest racks!), a map case, and the follow me pose that's guaranteed to inspire somebody (hopefully). Don't mind the white crust by the way, it's just smeary superglue.


Next is his faithful RTO, SGT Gibbons. We see him here trying feverishly to get the retrans antenna set up.


And here's a finalized shot of the highly motivated weapon's team, along with the Company Sharpshooter, SSG O'Hoolahan. He's making weather based scope adjustments at the moment.


Finally, we have a completed shot of the 3 advisors, the FO (artillerymen don't get names), CPT Toughnuts, the aircav guy, and SGT Snerdly, the much made fun of Catachan air traffic controller (hey, somebody's got to do it).


Next up, painting the squad + Marbo. I've got a trio of Valkyries on the way as we speak, so this week I should be able to begin the impossibly long task of converting and painting them.

Let me know what you think!

Wonko

the last guy on the far right all i have to say is this "Fear his carrots of DOOOM!!!"
over all i love this blog well done except the carrot dude who is just awesome because someone need to garden for the Imperial Guard
And the Emperor said "Eat your vegetables kids"

Very well done! I love the character, and not just the rank and file look and feel (even among other Catachan armies).

I'm curious though, how did you make the berets and floppy hats? I've got a kill team (well I can't call it that anymore, thanks 5thed) based around modern soldiers and I need some good headgear for them.

Love it! Keep it up!

Rico.

The berets and hats are just blobs of green stuff. They're shaped (crudely!) with a sculpting tool, then painted. I wish I could say my method was way more sophisticated, but there it is.

Wonko

Fair nuff, methinks I'll make some berets then. thanks!

Rico.

Great stuff i normally hate catachans but with the addition of hats and facial hair they look great.

Hey Wonko - what shades of green are you using for your paintjobs?

lmao at the air traffic controller! What's that on his face?

infilTRAITOR wrote:lmao at the air traffic controller! What's that on his face?

It would appear to be a very cultivated beard methinks.

Rico.

Gyah, I've been off the net for a bit.

First, the green is a base of Army issue olive drab spray paint, highlighted with Catachan green, and touched up with 50/50 Catachan/goblin. The valk gets a final highlight of a little goblin straight for contrast.

Yes, the air traffic controller is sporting a sweet beard - it'll look better with some paint on it, trust me. Right now it looks like his chin is fighting off a racoon.

Alright, I'm still painting the command squad, because I got a bit side tracked when the new Valks came in. Here's the first one, ready for a coat of spray paint. The 2 guys in the back are obviously Catachan'd up, as are the pilot and the commander. One of the gunners is taking it easy for a bit - hey, when you're cool enough to wear aviators you can do that. The other guy is reloading - I've still got to add a bit of GS to his right hand to connect it to the gun.

The bird itself (a.k.a. "the express elevator to hell") is going to be a Vendetta, as you can see by the first TL LC on either side of the cockpit. The wing mounted LC's will be from the HW sprue.






I should get the cmd squad finished in a few days, and the Vendetta will at least get its base coat tomorrow.

Let me know what you think!

Wonko

Cool - thanks for the painting info. Your door gunners make me think of Full Metal Jacket:

"How can you shoot women or children?"
"Easy! Ya just don't lead 'em so much!"

good stuff man. i like the guys placing mines

Alright, it's been a week, but I've got the command squad and Marbo finished now. Here are the pics:





As you can see, the carrot guy ended up getting signaling beacons instead of carrots (as was suggested), but I think the command squad needs an LZ marker more than a gardener. The valkyrie is almost finished, I should have pics up in a few days.

One thing I'm going to add to the command squad sooner or later is a set of the LZ stuff from Forgeworld's drop troop stuff. They've got a great beacon on there that I'd like to work in. For now though, 2 squads and 4 valks to go!

Let me know what you think.

Wonko

Jealous... And makes me what to do you one better.

Good Stuff man.

Great work, can't wait for more photo's.

Excellent work (Smithers)! I too can't wait for more pictures! I was a little wary of Marbo at first, but the way you painted him just makes him look awesome. I love his pistol!

Rico.

Alright, so the Vendetta is finished up. I decided to change the ship's name to "The Flying Taco". I'll probably do one of the later birds up as "The Express Elevator to Hell", but the taco image just looked to awesome to pass up. As you can see, it's only got 1 TL LC, the others are just LC's, but I'd like to think that won't be a big deal - I can't imagine it confusing anyone. The conversion work involved was simple enough - crew swaps w/ Catachan bits. The paint job is in line with the rest of the Company's birds - stylized red devil's wings on a Catachan green base.







The next bird's going to be the command ship, so it'll have a sound broadcast built in so the boys can blast music while assaulting the objective. As Apocalypse Now demonstrated, Wagner scares the hell out of Charlie (or the eldar, or whomever).

Let me know what you think!

Wonko

TACOS RULE!

I would give you an award simply for the name of the Valk but overall it's totally kickin'

If I could take a week of vacation, and spend $500 on GW stuff, I would be doing the same thing.

Everything looks good.

This really makes me want to add a few catchans to my army now. I've considered mixing up sprues for a while now.

This is probably my favorite blog on dakka.
I love everything you're doing here, and its giving me tonnes of ideas for my air cav army!

I'm a huge apocolypse now fan as well, and I've been trying to figure out ways to get surfboards on the running boards of my valks. I have some sculpted out of plasticard, but mounting them is difficult. I love the idea of the speaker system though!

Keep it up man!

Awesome stuff I especially like the advisors consider those ideas stolen!

hey your sly marbo reminds me of the black ninja guy of GI joe and i love a catachan army, not alot of people do them

i love your work and the effort you put in to individually change each model to the respectful standard the catachans truly needed.

quick question though, which models do you use for the arms etc? i dislike the troops but the command squad is great for conversions, so do you just use the extra command squad bits and mix it with the torso/legs of the normal troops?

goodluck with the project

Thanks for all the love - I'm glad the SF Company is a hit.

Feel free, of course, to steal any ideas you like - I wouldn't post it here if I wanted it to be Top Secret.

As far as construction of the models, everyone here is a mish-mash of models from the command sprues and normal squad sprues. All the rest is green stuff. The plastics are so easy to mess around with, that most of the conversions didn't take much work at all.

I'll post more soon - I'm side tracked for a week with Dark Elf stuff. Next up is another Valk (w/ speakers!) and a Delta Force inspired storm trooper squad.

Wonko

looks great, also in other new the air cav guy was general killgore > *badass*

It should be noted that you dont have to worry about your choice of autocannons vs lascannons, autocannons are better vs everything except AV14, so you made a wise decision.

Well, I spent the last 2 weeks side tracked by Space Hulk and some dark elf models, but I'm back on the Catachans for a bit now. Here is the newest Valkyrie - "The Smokin' Aces". She's equipped with a nose-mounted broadcast system (cause it scares the poo out of Charlie), and her bolters are stowed away to make room for the floor mounted fast rope pintle. As you can see, 2 SF guys are making use of it. Hell, these guys don't even use gloves - I guess being hard as woodpecker lips is good for something.






Next up is the glory boy squad. They'll be Catachans with plate carriers and suped up lasguns - delta force style.

Let me know what you think,

Wonko

super dope , this is an army full of flavor looks great .

This blog rules my life.
Your stuff is always great man, I can't wait for the stormtroopers!

What's the method for that skin tone looks great!

Great weathering on the Valk!

Love the poses you give your guys as well as the valks.
However I do feel that the plastic "trees" and brushers needs to come off your models.

other than that they're completely sexellent

Are those decals for the 'smokin aces' bit and the cards? If not, those are some sick freehand skills .

I'm glad everyone's a fan - this army is a lot of fun to put together. The skin on these guys is pretty simple: Dwarf Flesh, Ogryn Wash, Dwarf Flesh Highlight. The decals are all just normal computer paper printed stuff that I cut out and glue on - my free hand skills aren't that sick!

Why do you think the trees need to come off? For playability reasons (cover saves and such) or appearance? I like the jungle theme, and I'd hate to give it up.

Wonko

Well, mainly since they look so darn out of place being so big. as well as they'll give you trouble should you enter a building...
I vote for the smaller plastic trees you got in the 3rd ed. starter box.

Personally I like the trees although the point about buildings is well made. Might have to get me some of that decal paper at some point or another! The stowed Heavy Bolters and the fast rope poses are brilliant on the valkyrie!

I'm going to start my own Catachan force in a few days and this is a great inspiration for it! Your conversions are awesome, especially like that trooper on the rope disembarking from that Valkyrie/Vendetta. Cool stuff!

Im really loving the Valks. I really like the attention to detail with some of the guys with flora coming off there bases. Really good looking Imp Guard.

Wow how did I miss this one?

Amazing work! I just love these Valks! Brilliant modelling and posing of the crew figures, and very sharp and crisp painting.

They must be quite a sight all lined up together!

Like it all alot.

Marbo's my favorite. I thought he was Snake Eyes at first.

I also liked the chest racks.

Alright, I've finished modeling the Stormtroopers. They, as I said before, are modeled after a Delta Force sort of unit, so they've got a wide range of head gear and facial hair, but all of them are equipped with plate carriers. Since GW says my Catachans have a 5+ in T-shirts, I think these guys can pull of 4+ with an armored vest. They all have CCW and pistols IAW WYSIWYG, although the NCO, is armed with a power fist & coffee cup that I'm saying counts as a PW. Even Stormtrooper NCOs need their coffee after all!

Here are the pics:
3 guys prepping frags:

2 melta gunners:

2 joe stormtroopers (including one Wyatt Earp wannabee):

The big Sarge with his extra-large power coffee cup:

2 guys transitioning from lasgun to pistol:


My thoughts on hellguns are that the difference lies more in the ammo (increased charge) than the weapon itself. I can mod the weapons a bit, but honestly I like the look of the basic lasgun. What is the consensus on this - do I need to chop them up to make them WYSIWYG? I can't see anyone seeing my army thinking this unit is anything but stormtroopers, but I don't want anyone to pitch a fit either. Let me know what you think.

Wonko

Nice work

Regarding the hellgun thing. Can you model box-mags or something onto the lasguns? Bigger power packs == more AP

You could give them small backpacks and put in a trailing cable. Instant hotshot powerpack...

good idea, Ian!

This army of yours is top friggin notch! but tbh im not sure i really get the super big gulp sarge, but i like him

i really dig what you do with the catachans. with all the added gear, their arms are way better in scale with the rest of the model.

Thanks again - the NCO is an inside joke. I'm in the American army, and you almost never see an NCO without a cup of coffee in his hand. I figure the Imperium isn't too much different!

Me on the far right

The US Navy is the same way about coffee. Especially Chiefs. (E7-E9 paygrade, not your typical NCO's, long story) In my own Guard I've put all the 'Sergeants' in khaki w/ combination covers to make Chiefs out of them.

I really like the work you've done with the Valk. I like the rest of the stuff you've done but that really takes it so far.

One suggestion I think would put this over the top- get a squad of catachans wearing sunglasses (I think that's those are) and model long beards on them like your D-Boys. Just think about it, ZZ Top rockin' the cheap sunglasses.

It's nice to see the coffee trend is inter-service and international - I guess crusty old people are the same world round.

So I was looking through my Catachan battleforce box a few days ago while the primer on the latest squad dried, and I found the sentinal that comes with it. It's got to be one of my least favorite models in GW's guard range. I just don't like the AT-ST thing, and I don't see how it would be any good for jungle recon at all. How do you clear brush with one, horizontally mounted chainsaw and nothing else, and if Jedi taught us anything, it's that bipeds don't do well walking on logs.

Anyway, I decided to upgrade mine - but how? Enter Final Fantasy III (SNES version). My favorite of the series, I found myself thinking about it, and viola, the idea hit me. My sentinal would look something like a suit of magitek armor. And so the following sentinal was born:

It's got a grabby arm for moving trees aside and clearing Valk landing zones

And an autocannon to deter ewoks

It's a bit more rickety in the back, but I figured an AV 10 vehicle shouldn't have too much plate. He's also packed a couple of extra supplies for extended ops.

And here's a close up of the pilot, CWO Vicks. He met an unfortunate end when he and his buddy CWO Wedge had to escort a renegade psyker to the Narshe system.


Is it crude? Yep. Is it a great sculpt? Not at all. Is it better than the original? I think so.

Let me know what you think, the stormtroopers will be finished tomorrow I hope.

Wonko

This thread is full of awesome.

You sir are a genious.

I love the storm troopers, you pulled them off so well.
The sentinal looks great too, very original and imperial looking.

Well done!

On the last photo of the Stormtroopers, the guy with the cap looks like Gaz and the guy on the right looks like Captain Price. Both of Call of Duty 4.

personally I feel that the arm is just way out of place as it is modelled. Compared to the rest of the model it has too big sections instead of the smaller, more detailed ones.

You can really tell thet it don't belong there..

I'd go with something more along the lines of this for a second arm (with a chainsaw or circle saw blade attached)..

Love the sentinal and stormies, they look awesome. Not such a fan of the giant coffee mug, but thats just me.

This is quite possibly the best Catachan Army I've ever seen The conversions are wicked, full of character and references to cool '80's action movies, which can only = WIN The painting is very nice too, very crisp

I like the Sentinel, it seems a very promising conversion so far, it looks suitably 'beefed up' to go with the muscular Catachans. Looking forward to seeing it done!

Alright, the stormtroopers are finished. Here they are in all their unshaven glory:
First up are the 2 melta-gunners. One has sweet, 80's feathered blonde hair, and the other is scanning for side armor.

Next up is the big Sarge with his cup o' joe (and probably nicotine if it's available in liquid form in the 41st M). I won't expound on what's written on his mug - you can figure it out for yourself. His buddy's preparing for the underhand frag toss - when an overhand throw just won't do.

Next are the 2 old guys on the team. One's got a pair of hotshot laspistols, the other just has rockin facial hair.

Next up are vanilla operators 1 & 2. One does have a facial scar though - every team needs at least one.

Finally we've got ball cap guy and his buddy - both transitioning to their side-arms for some up close business.


Next up - finishing up the sentinel. I thought about redoing his arm - you're right, it does look a little off - but in the end, laziness won out, so he's going to stay as is. As usual I'll hide any imperfections with paint!

Let me know what you think - I've only got 1 squad to go for my original 5 team concept!

Wonko

Has Blondy with the Meltagun got a black eye?

What part of the deep south is this regiment from again?
Those guys came out great painted.

Any guys from the 1st Preditor movie? or Stargate teams?

Looking cool.

First off, I love what you've done here, especially the fast-roping valk! Now then, while working on my own stormtrooper conversions, I wanted to give the SGT a little somethin to really make him stand out (the free boltgun upgrade just wasn't enough), and your coffee cup idea definately takes the cake! Consider it stolen, sir!

get to the chopper! wrote:Love the sentinal and stormies, they look awesome. Not such a fan of the giant coffee mug, but thats just me.

Could be on a power break

Steal away dude - I wouldn't post it if I cared about being the only guy on the block w/ a coffee toting squad leader.

In my head, all of Catachan is like the deep south - maybe eastern Georgia or Mississippi. "Upgraded" old cars, family firearms, and a good amount of tobacco chewin'.

There's a guy on the first page that's based on Blaine from the 1st predator movie, but otherwise, everyone is based on the general stereotype that squad represents rather than anyone in particular.

And yeah, Blondie has a bum eye - I guess I should touch that up.

wonkobaggins wrote:In my head, all of Catachan is like the deep south - maybe eastern Georgia or Mississippi. "Upgraded" old cars, family firearms, and a good amount of tobacco chewin'.

Dude, that ST rockin' the facial hair looks distinctly like my uncle from Tennessee...

wonkobaggins wrote:
In my head, all of Catachan is like the deep south - maybe eastern Georgia or Mississippi. "Upgraded" old cars, family firearms, and a good amount of tobacco chewin'.

Seeing a squad with family heirloom shotguns (long double barreled kind) would be pretty cool, and probably cheaper than buying FW shotguns.

Herasy minis have weapon sprues

Alright, here's the completed Sentinel. I guess I might add a few bits of vegetation, but you get the gist of it. The chest insignia is, of course, the red devils logo - don't leave home without it!





I'm going to plan on adding 2 more of these to the army just to flush out the force org slot. The other 2 will be modeled in various states of readiness, as I see these guys getting either air dropped in ahead of the Valks or unloaded off the back in a stow configuration. We'll see where the muse takes me!

Until then though, I'm doing some work on a dwarf project next, so it'll be a bit before there's another update.

Wonko

So, what does your Sentinel do to get killer abs like that? haha

Ork lifting

I still feel that the arm with a fist is way too out of place.. hmmm

Woah. That sentinel is really cool!

I haven't been a huge fan of the sentinel conversion so far and today I realized why that was - while the execution is solid, it looks to me like it's going to fall over in a stiff wind. I have a hard time seeing how those spindly little sentinel legs can carry all that extra armor and bulk. That said, if you were to put some nice burly Dreadnought legs on it, I think it'd look sweet.

hey man i like your valks(especially the names )but have you ever tried camo on your guardsmen?it makes them look WAY cooler believe im a catachan player meself...id suggest a pretty easy scheme of bestial brown with snakebite leather highlight...like that:




i use it on my models and it looks rather cool!!!

theses guys remind me of, space age S.A.S forces with mech and tank support


love it

Mate The last model looks like a contractor (the one with baseball cap!)! Really Great Work!

My bet is that most of those guys are based off contractors and/or certain spec operatives ;P

I wouldn't be suprised if I could find OP over at Wannabe.uk.co

This blog is full of awesome, isn't it? Great job on adding so much personality to every guy!

That Sentinel really reminds me off the Goblin Lumberjack Suit thing from Warcraft 3 really skilled conversion! I like the hair on the special forces guys and the paint looks great!

Looks great and its nice to see someone make catachans cool , the sentinal looks pretty rad as well . ( it does remind me of those walker things from matrix 3 though )

Again, thanks for the love. The blog is definitely on hold for a bit, due to the dwarf project that's taken the lead, but I've got a Valk box sitting in the basement that's next up for a paint job. Eventually, there will be a bit more to bring it up to 2k.

As far as Muller's assertion - I'll say they're based off some first hand observation from the middle east and not comment further!

And yeah, I think the sentinel's arm looks a bit eldarish too, I'll probably try and work on that with the next one and come back to touch this one up if something works better.

i love dem valks

Alright, so after seeing some inspiring stuff on another blog from old crow miniatures, I decided to rethink sentinels in the Army. What really sold me on the models is the fact that they fit perfectly into the cargo hold on a Valk, which sits well with my Air Cav army theme. I imagine the valks going in early to drop these guys off in support of dismounted recon, or bringing them in on the second lift of an assault landing to get some mobile heavy weapon support on the ground.

Here's the WIP shots of what I'm using instead:
Front shots:

Tail gate shots with survival gear:

Shot of one pulling out of the back of a valk:


They'll have a stand up gun mount with a creatively posed gunner by the time their finished.

I also wrapped up a trio of objective markers - also made with old crow miniatures. They represent air dropped supplies that were misdropped (damned air force!) and have to be recovered.


Next up for the army is a command valk, followed by a few more squads of dudes. I don't know how much more I'll expand the army past that - I really envision it as a strike force, so I can't see it getting to apocalypse level. That's more in line with the ork pirates!

Let me know what you think.

Dan

i like how the air dropped oil cans landed perfectly on top of each other in a pyramid shape

seriously though, im loving this thread, where did thoe cool sentinel stand ins come from? or is it old crow miniatures?

Nice army and wonderful use of the Old Crow trucks.

Awesome work!

i like the truck coming out of the Valkyrie. looks cool.
nice work.

What is the truck coming out of the Valk made of?

The scout car came from this companywww.oldcrowmodels.co.uk. It's a really simple mini - only the wheels came separately, but it looks pretty sharp.

Dropping them out of Valks is a very cool idea. How will you represent this rules-wise?

Probably saying they dropped out before the battle, since there's no possible way to represent it without writing your own.

I love Catachans and these are no exception. I second what was said earlier on about them looking better with camo, but I think they look good as-is.

Absolutely spectacular work. I wish more people gave this much love to their ladz!

How about an underslung truck packed with a shoot?

I may end up doing a large objective with one of the trucks rigged onto a pallet w/ a parachute for a vehicle drop - I don't know enough about 40k to know whether that's useful though.

I'd also like to start working on scenery for the boys - I picture building an infantry command looking building from DoW - I like that they're dropped in from space. Anyone know if something similar is sold anywhere?

Awesome project man. Really loving those chest rigs and plate carriers on the stormtroopers!

The hats make them look like Jesse Ventura from Predator.

As for the plastic plant pieces, I use them too. I find the only way to make them look good is to repaint them. Maybe tuesday or wendesday Ill have a digital camera from the after Christmas sales and I can show you what Im up to I'm working on some deathworld troops too, and it seems the plastic benefits greatly from some pigment to kill the see through effect of seaweed.

Brilliant work!

I finished up the gunners for the sentinel stand ins, 2 autocannons and a missle launcher. As usual, I tried to give them fairly unique poses, and the 2 autocannon guys are removable so they still fit in Valkyries.




Let me know what you think,

Dan

ghosty wrote:i like how the air dropped oil cans landed perfectly on top of each other in a pyramid shape

seriously though, im loving this thread, where did thoe cool sentinel stand ins come from? or is it old crow miniatures?

I believe they are these:



http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/25gecko.htm

They are, in fact, those. I also ordered the bumper kit & added some bits. Great company.

Love it !

wonkobaggins wrote:They are, in fact, those. I also ordered the bumper kit & added some bits. Great company.

Glad to hear it, I've been looking at their stuff for ages but never bought anything.

As some know I have a bit of an obession with finding the perfect 40k cars and Old Crow comes close with their trucks.

And the fact these fit in a valkyrie is just awesome.

Oh and while I'm add, mad props on your army, I love how the first squad even looks like the squad from predator.

Cool I'm definitely going down the Old Crow route with my Zulus know. I love the bloke relaxing in the back of the Truck it just looks brilliant!

Loving all of it... it's got so much character! Are you writing special rules to drop your Sentinel stand-ins out of the Valks?

I think the forgeworld books had rules for air dropped elysian sentinels, but I'll just play them as being dropped off board & outflanking.

I am loving the conversions you have here. Now I want to get some of these guys and do some greenstuffing.

This is easily one of the coolest armies I've seen. Keep it coming, man. I'll be sad the day I hear you've finished it (as that will mean no awesome new pics).

great "Sentinels"! very creative indeed!
how many variants are you making? and are you just going to swap out the weapons, and keep these three chasis?
can't wait to see more.

Devil Company's Sentinels are now ready for battle:






Next up, I'm working on some ethnic diversity for the squads. Stay tuned for afros, dreadlocks, and Mr. T.

Dan

I really love the guy who is lounging in the back with the missile launcher. Excellent work posing him.

I am really loving these. Honestly I think it would have been cool to have a guy or weapon comming from the front seat.

The only reason there aren't any drivers is that the kit is a single piece sculpt - I'd have to saw off the whole cockpit, dig it out, and rebuild it. I voted for tinted windows instead!

how many sentinel variants are you making? aNd are you just going to swap out the weapons, and keep these three chasis or do more of them?

At the moment I'm sticking with these 3 - if I find a burst of motivation I'll finish 2 more walker versions (like the one above), but right now I'm shifting focus back to squads and valks. The weapons are all removable, so I'll probably paint a few lascannons up for swaps some day. It's definitely on the back burner for now though.

since they're removable, i'd do as you said about painting up a couple of lascannons.
i still am impressed with those each time i see'm. they rock! great idea.

So, like every Catachan player, I've thought about adding Gunnery Sergeant Harker to the mix. I mean, he adds infiltrate and stealth to the squad, AND he brings a heavy bolter & FNP to the party, what's not to like?

Well, for me it's the model. He looks like a sissy - what ork warboss or tyranid carnifex is going to fear that guy?

So I thought to myself - who would strike fear into the heart of any xenos?

And then it hit me. Jim Kelly.


And so, I give you the WIP shots of MSG Jim Kelly - a certified kung fuing, heavy bolter packing bad-ass that looks good doing it.




I've got more to add - but there's the start of it.

Let me know what you think.

Dan

I can't wait to see MSGT Kelly all finished. I'm working on a Harker conversion of my own, because I'm also put off by the model, but now I want to scrap mine and start over to try and achieve the same coolness level that you have with yours.

definitely 1 bad looking MO-FO!

I've been meaning to ask someone - do the legs you're using for MSGT Kelly come with the Catachan command box? I'm going to do a squad of Catachan vets, and I was thinking of buying two command squads for the swell bits, but I don't really want two sets of those legs in my squad.

yep, it's from the Catachan command box

Mm. So if I bought two command boxes wit the intention of putting them together into one squad, I'd be stuck with two sets of those legs in the same squad, huh? No good.

i don't mean to got too off OT or no hijacking intended.
but you are correct. you'd have 2 of them. but you could remove the second skull and replace it with a rock or some such.

I am loving the sentinels. Might have to steal them for my new army.

MSG Jim Kelly is finished. I'll base him when I finish the squad I'm concurrently working on.




Shut yo mouth xenos scum - Jim Kelly, aka the Black Samurai, is here to slap you down.

Oh, and Shane, the way I got around the problem you're describing was to use 2 command boxes and 1 regular box to make 2 squads. The command box has enough bits to personalize the normal dudes pretty well.

enough to make Mr. T tremble! he looks incredible!
what all went into the backpack?

Wow! Those Geckos on the last page are Ace! I might have to load up on them if I decide to start a second Guard army

The pack is a Cadian radio pack with the radio sliced off. I added a Catachan medic bag to the bottom, and then built the ammo feeder out of green stuff. The frags on the side are from the Catachan command sprue.

And yeah, the geckos are pretty slick kits. I wish I could find the link to the guy's post who did them first - it's a guard thread on this board somewhere. He did some good work with chimeras and oldcrow turrets.

MSG Kelly looks pretty sharp and all, but uh...where's his ammo?

CrashUSAR wrote:MSG Kelly looks pretty sharp and all, but uh...where's his ammo?

In the Grimdarkness of the far future, everyone has unlimited ammo.


Otherwise, how would marines' 2 or 3 bolter mags last more than a few minutes after leaving their Drop Pod?

I should take a pic of his other side - he's got a huge belt leading out of the gun & into the hopper on the top of his ruck (Ah-la Jesse Ventura in Predator). No kung fu master would forget bullets!

Wait a minute!

wonkobaggins wrote:And then it hit me. Jim Kelly.

...

This thread is full of win, I can't belive I missed this!

Looks a bit like Shaft.... Jhon Shaft....

metallifan wrote:In the Grimdarkness of the far future, everyone has unlimited ammo.


Otherwise, how would marines' 2 or 3 bolter mags last more than a few minutes after leaving their Drop Pod?

in the Grim darkness of the far future everyone has....John Wayne guns?!

ot
i figured it was on the side we couldn't see.

metallifan wrote:In the Grimdarkness of the far future, everyone has unlimited ammo.
Otherwise, how would marines' 2 or 3 bolter mags last more than a few minutes after leaving their Drop Pod?

Arsehole dude, arsehole.

And Wonko: Didn't see the post about the ammo hopper right above mine...

Here's the next update to Devil Company - 20 more guys.

I picked these guys up 2nd hand (with the exception of Jim Kelly!), so I wasn't able to repose them as much as usual. I did ensure each guy was personalized in some fashion though.







Next up, I've got to get Valk 4 finished, and then I really need to get a few more special weapons guys finished.
Oh, and before there was the A-Team, Mr. (then Private) T was in Devil Company getting yelled at for wearing too much "bling" - see if you can spot him!

Dan

second picture up, far right?

Awesome work, all around. Kelly rules the battle field.

MSGT Kelly's pack blew my mind. You've got me almost wishing I'd bought Catachans instead of Cadians.

Wow!! Its truly rare to see a Catachan army that is this cool and awesome! Keep it up!

Over and out Avach

wonkobaggins wrote:

yeah extremely good looking paintjob !!! ... i love this valk !. ...
but do you know what first came to my mind, when i saw this pic: "we can't go down here! ... cos' the landingzone is extremely hot !"

This makes me excited...because its Catachan so thus it rocks....

Tell me as a fellow excessive Valkyrie user could the interior be left on show?? how did you make the tops removable?? as I want to do some Valks that are Sentinel shuttles (I.e Carriers) could you fit two crouched Sentinels in a Valk?? or could you fit more plus crew and pilots and fitters??

Ambitious I know......but..

Yeah, the Valk kit is really easy to work with. If you don't glue the top on, it comes on and off very easily, and the interior has a good bit of detail to paint up, as long as you're making a cargo bird anyway.

As far as whether a squatting sentinel would fit, I don't know. I was going to model one of the walker sentinels from earlier in the thread in a squatting position, like it was being deployed, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Hope that helps.

Very insightful so it would be a matter of trial and error I suppose.

Do you know what hit me?

http://earlvagary.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/price.jpg

or captain price from the call of duty series would be an awesome sqaud leader btw your stuff is marvelous!

His Mustache is epic! so yes I also agree.

If you're going to throw in Price, which again would be awesome (hey thats like 3 suggestions, that means you have to do it, Peer pressure!) then you have to throw in Soap MacTavish as well... http://www.mygaming.co.za/news/files.php?file=soap_460668488.jpg Come on, Mohawk is just badass!

What the hell, why not. I guess the next squad I put together will have both of those dudes in it. They certainly look like they'd be at home in the army.

It's going to be 2 weeks or so though until I put any more work into any miniatures - we're moving to NC next week. Fort Bragg calls!

Dan

Have a safe and simple move, man. Enjoy Bragg!

moTor safely!

and you have to do those 2 conversions, you agreed.

Did you make the other Kelly in the far left of the first and third picture, or did it come like that? Also, this is an amazing army. I want to buy another valkyrie just to make it like your one with the rappelling troops.

And I've made a lt. Price and a cpt. Macmillan (a sniper with a mechanical leg). The beared head from the empire cannon model is pretty good if you can shave the bits of the beard you don't want with a scalpel.

ah bags doing soap and taskforce 141 , also keen for some updates on the catachan army great job once again

wonkobaggins wrote:Fort Bragg calls!

Dan

I'll be in there in a few weeks! I'll make sure to bring my Cadians and/or CSM if I've got a decent amount of them painted by then.

oh and you reckon you could do a charlie sheen, the two and a half men guy XD also in platoon and navy seals movies

And Red Dawn

physcosamatic wrote:oh and you reckon you could do a charlie sheen, the two and a half men guy XD also in platoon and navy seals movies

if you're going to do Charlie Sheen in Platoon, you might as well work in Hot Shots also!

Loads of inspiration here, and a really characterful army. Thanks for sharing it!

wonkobaggins wrote:

all he needs is a blue comb sticking out the back of his fro

Hey, wonko - I'm getting out of my Catachan army - would you have any interest in my Predator team or my Captain Willard and the crew of the PT boat?

Alright, so the move is over. With a good portion of my stuff still packed up in boxes, I decided to start something new - a Forward Operating Base (FOB) for Devil Company.

I'm a big planetstrike fan, and although D CO is definitely more suited for an attacking role, I figured they might defend some day. Plus, I really dig the idea of building a base.

I ordered an imperial strongpoint today, to provide the bulk of the basic buildings, walls, and guns, but I figured I'd do something special for the command post (CP).

After looking at the infantry command building from dawn of war, I came up with this (ork pirate is shown for scale only):


Obviously, it's very WIP, but I think you can see the general shape and size of the base building. I imagine that the basic metal structure is sling loaded by a valk or two, or inserted from space, and the troops on the ground then improve it with sandbags and wire.

I've also started a turret based on the DoW stuff that uses a few extra heavy bolters I've got laying around.


It still needs a control mechanism and a couple of ammo hoppers, but I'll probably keep it pretty simple. The plan is to build a few of these, and then deploy them near the CP as counts as automated weapons (with the CP counting as a bastion with the commo upgrade)

Let me know what you think.

Dan

wonkobaggins wrote:Alright, so the move is over. With a good portion of my stuff still packed up in boxes, I decided to start something new - a Forward Operating Base (FOB) for Devil Company.

I'm a big planetstrike fan, and although D CO is definitely more suited for an attacking role, I figured they might defend some day. Plus, I really dig the idea of building a base.

I ordered an imperial strongpoint today, to provide the bulk of the basic buildings, walls, and guns, but I figured I'd do something special for the command post (CP).

After looking at the infantry command building from dawn of war, I came up with this (ork pirate is shown for scale only):


Obviously, it's very WIP, but I think you can see the general shape and size of the base building. I imagine that the basic metal structure is sling loaded by a valk or two, or inserted from space, and the troops on the ground then improve it with sandbags and wire.

I've also started a turret based on the DoW stuff that uses a few extra heavy bolters I've got laying around.


It still needs a control mechanism and a couple of ammo hoppers, but I'll probably keep it pretty simple. The plan is to build a few of these, and then deploy them near the CP as counts as automated weapons (with the CP counting as a bastion with the commo upgrade)

Let me know what you think.

Dan

That thing is looking bad sexy. You should make some sort of balcony wall or peg-and-socket system so you can make a bunch of buildings and stack them together to make huge forts

Alright, so the construction of the FOB continues - I still haven't thought of a name for it.

I finished the 2 heavy bolter turrets that will guard the ECP (front gate).


I also put a lot more work into the CP bunker - the sandbags on top are removable. They're really great bags by the way, Pegasus games makes them. The price took me aback until they arrived, and I found out they're pretextured and painted. I'm really sold on them. The finished CP will have a bit more roof detail and a commo relay.


My strongpoint arrived today too, so I've got 2 bastions and 3 aegis lines to work with. The intent is to make the FOB modular, so it can be rearranged in a bunch of different ways, while still keeping the feel of something that can be air lifted in pieces.

I also put together my command vendetta. Here's the interior shot with the force commander in his Captain's chair. He still needs a sweet hat and facial hair of course.



I know his finger still looks awkward - I'm still working on it. The finished vendetta will have a few more crew in the back, as well as a large antenna cluster of some sort. I'll keep you posted.

Let me know what you think,

Dan

It would be pure win if you put a whiskey/beer bottle in his pointing hand , although this is pure win already

That's a damned fine idea - whiskey it is.

He needs to be holding a bag of popcorn in his right hand. Nothin like a crazy CO staring at a data relay screaming "No you gak-tards! I said left flank, LEFT flank!" with popcorn flyin outta his mouth.

God I love this army, I plan on stealing alot of the ideas posted here.

Loving the bunker and heavy bolter turrets. Very nice - with the sandbags, very Catachan-looking. I can already picture it sitting in the middle of the jungle somewhere.

Hah! Here I am suggesting a modular fort and you already had it thought out

Great minds my friend, great minds...

Your stuff remains some of the most awesome I've seen.

If I can make one suggestion? How 'bout some big, impressive looking cargo hooks on the corners of your CP?

CrashUSAR wrote:He needs to be holding a bag of popcorn in his right hand. Nothin like a crazy CO staring at a data relay screaming "No you gak-tards! I said left flank, LEFT flank!" with popcorn flyin outta his mouth.

This has just been sigged.

Great job on everything. I love your plasticard work in the command Vendetta.

nice sentry guns.

Alright, more work has been done on both FOB X (no name chosen) and the command bird.

First, the aircraft. I've reflagged it from a command bird to a TAC bird. The commander, I figure, will be on the ground during any combat, so the guy in the bird will probably be the XO or the S3 (plans officer). He'll provide the commander with a forward located intelligence node to assist w/ Command and control, as well as providing a vendetta's worth of firepower under the direct supervision of a senior officer. Complicated enough description for you?

Anyway, here are the pics, I haven't added the booze or a second crewman yet - I'm thinking about making it an ogryn body guard:



And here are the pics of the Devil Company command post. The valk wouldn't normally land here - only in a "evacuate the embassy" sort of situation. As was suggested, the CP will get sling hooks added - I need to dig up something to do them with.


And finally, here's the pile of terrain I've got based so far. The bastion is in progress, and is fully modular. I'll add more pics of it later.


I'm working toward an entire triangle shaped FOB, complete w/ airfield - there are another bastion and 2 more aegis lines on the ready line.

Let me know what you think.

Dan

This stuff's looking great, Dan! It's got me to set aside the bulk of my army in favor of working on the one squad of Catachan models (my infiltrators) that I have. I'm always looking forward to your next post.

Wow I'm bookmarking this thread. Great job on everything!

How about some towed comm lines?

Love the stuff in this thread, a great inspiration to help me with the guard army I'm planning.

Loving this man just inspired.

Loving the command Vendetta - the paint job is terrific! Everything looks great all together like that!

Alright, so I finished painting the first aegis line and bastion, and I got the rest of them assembled. I went ahead and did a trial run of what the FOB will look like. Here are the pictures:







As you can see, a bit of it still needs to be painted, and I need to assemble and paint about 20 feet of razor wire that I've got in a box, but that's all to come next - so stay tuned.

i love your valks!
XD.
They are just too cool.
Too bad i can't buy IG :*(

Fan-damn-tastic!

Awesome!

absolutely Fantastic!

I love the FOB! You're making what I'd only dare dream!

This project is pure and simple WIN.

Great job on all the conversions and paint jobs.

This stuff just keeps getting better, bro. I can't wait to see what you have in store next.

Very Very nice, not mad on the foliage but everything else is bang on.

Great job, it would look great in a battle. Hopefully we see that happen.

Strangely, that's the hardest part. I just moved to the area, so it'll be a bit before I find a good gaming partner I think. I'm glad y'all dig the FOB though.

On another note - I just got a solid deal on 10 ogryn, so the catachan devils will be getting a hefty pile of auxilleries in the near future - I even have a snazzy plan to make them airborne in spite of GWs no-ogryn-in-valk rules.

Dan

You need to give them ogryn JETPACKS!, not just any JETPACKS! but human sized JETPACKS! and they could have one on each shoulder.....mmmmmm JETPACKS!

Lewismio wrote:You need to give them ogryn JETPACKS!, not just any JETPACKS! but human sized JETPACKS! and they could have one on each shoulder.....mmmmmm JETPACKS!

"Can somebody help me stop saying FARMVILLE ? FARMVILLE"

Anyways , back on topic . These are coming along nicely . I really like how you do their skin . If not already mentioned in the thread , could you write down quickly how to make it ?

JETPACKS!

Alright, time for another update. Today I got almost all the terrain finished - the razor wire was particularly fun to build. I've still got about 5 more feet of the stuff to assemble though.

Here are the pics of all the new stuff together:
On a side note the imperial strongpoint is a great buy - 90 bucks gets pretty much everything I needed to put together a planetstrike board.





Additionally, D co got a pile of reinforcements, in the form of the remnants of Death by Monkey's old air cav unit. The whole lot was 30 dudes, with 11 packing melta guns. Just what every guard army needs right? More melta guns! After a bit of work, and a paint job, I have 15 of them finished up. Here they are:

First, my favorite: Jesse Ventura.






DBM's conversion work on these was top notch - all I had to do to bring them into the fold was add some hats, beards, and backpacks. Huzzah for second hand minis!

That's all for tonight - next up is a unit of 8 ogryn - stay tuned.

Dan

Awesome update. The new gear for the base looks great, and the reinforcements are very cool. That one with the binoculars and 60lbs of armour is hilarious too. "I don't see anything- hey, who blacked out the lenses?!" *BANG*

Where'd you get the heads from on that last batch of Catachans? Or are those just regular heads and a really good paint job? Either way it looks good.

Great stuff, wonko - you totally did justice to my conversions with your paintjob (something I'm not sure I could've done!) I'm really happy to see how well they turned out.

Sencing a high power level... Ugh.......Ugh........Ugh
I LOVE THE GROUP SHOT!!!!

i actually think the jess ventura looks like he would make a better guunery seargent harker than the afro dude

Yeah, I think Jim Kelly might lose out to ole Jesse for the role of Gunnery SGT Harker in most games - I might rebase Jim on a 35mm base, give him an AG, and convert them into a weapon team.

The heads are all either off the Catachan sprue or the command sprue w/ Green stuff added on. The second from left guy is an old metal model.

I'm glad you like the paint jobs DBM - I don't know where you scraped up some of the bits, but the sculpts are great.

Oh, and to answer an earlier Q, the skin is dwarf flesh, washed w/ ogryn flesh, highlighted w/ dwarf flesh. It's easier than it looks.

Dan

we need more!!!!!!
I love the planet strike stuff. so its worth the 90$ price tag?

Alright, here's the next update to D co - ogryn!

How, I thought to myself, would a commander get ogryn to get into an aircraft? My mind immediately leaped to that source of military knowledge - the A Team. When Murdock needed to get BA in an airplane, what did he do? He tricked him. Now it's hard to model a drugged glass of milk, but I figured I could model another sort of trick.

Enter the Connex Chimera.

Chimeras are probably too heavy to airlift with a Valk, but Connexes aren't. Consequently, I ordered a couple of these (just the box part):
http://images.frpgames.com/products/product_38838.jpg

I figure the commander convinces the ogryn to get in, flies the connex where he needs the ogryn to be, and drops it off. There aren't any windows, so the Ogryn will never know the thing's in the air at all.

Anyway, hairbrained schemes aside, here are the ogryn:
You'll note the addition of hair and sunglasses - the hallmark of special forces guys everywhere.





Let me know what you think,

Dan

I hate Ogryn models, they just never seem to look like they belong cause they're so...huge...but I like what you've done with those. They have a very WHF Ogre feel to them, but with guns.

Very nice, I love all the little details on all the units.

A very nice Catachan force, Marbo would be pleased.

The handlebar on the Ogryn is great. Nice work spicing them up although admit it the commander in the Valkyrie isn't watching the battle he's got the game on that wide screen tv of his.

I'm sure no self respecting officer would ever tune into the *insert sport here* game on TV when the troops were in contact! Right? Well, maybe just on one screen - he's got three after all...

Or maybe he'd just watch the game.

i agree with what was said earlier. i don't like the Ogryns either, but those look really great!

The sunglasses and goatee are great.

wonkobaggins wrote:
First, my favorite: Jesse Ventura.

I missed this guy! Ol' Painless looks great! If I were you, I'd make the heavy weapons guy for this squad a different model, and have Jesse be in a squad that is modelled after all the guys from Predator. Mac, Billy, Jesse, Dutch, Dylan, Poncho, and Hawkins. They'd make for a suitably badass veteren squad methinks.

This is AWESOME cant wait to see more

Darth Bob wrote:I missed this guy! Ol' Painless looks great! If I were you, I'd make the heavy weapons guy for this squad a different model, and have Jesse be in a squad that is modelled after all the guys from Predator. Mac, Billy, Jesse, Dutch, Dylan, Poncho, and Hawkins. They'd make for a suitably badass veteren squad methinks.

Actually, they were done - you can check them out here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/238507.page#978021. I offered to sell them to wonkobaggins, though, as I didn't feel I could do the paint jobs justice, whereas I knew he could. If you look closely at some of the other recent squads he's shown painted up, you can make out a couple of the other guys. I'm as excited as everyone else to see them painted up!

I was excited when I was looking at your army.
I've been working on a IG Recon Unit myself and really wanted some wheeled vehicles, espeacially after I saw the new FW Eulysian Taurus Whatchamacallit...
So thanks to introducing me to Old Crow Gekkos. I've already ordered 3 since seeing how well yours were working for you.
Seems we think alike as I have been adding Green stuff Bushcaps and Ballcaps to my Veterns as well.
I only wish i could've pulled off the Jesse the body Ventura tribute as well as you have...
Great work!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I took another look at your FOB and realized there was only one thing missing.
Where are the Port-a-John's?
Its a stinkin' Must have......

You going to do Anna as well from the movie?

I must say, I really do love those Ogryns. Could they call themselves Catachans without the headband?

Err, who's Anna?

And no, I don't think the Ogryn would have been part of the team without sweet headbands - they're essential to the war effort!

Sorry updates have been a bit slower - I've been put on the night shift at language school and don't have any painting time during the week right now. I'll try to finish something this weekend!

Saturday, D co will take on an invading Space Marine list in a planetstrike game. Apparently word of Devil Company's disdain for the commissar corps has reached the beakies ears, and they've come to punish us. Bah - we'll show them. You're a long way from Terra smurf boys!

She was in the first Preditor movie, the woman arnie took a weapon off near the end

Painting has been a bit slow lately due to a hectic work schedule, but I've finally managed to finish another batch of troopers (operators?) for D CO. I also squeezed in the time to fight a planetstrike battle with them against an uppity lot of space marines. D Co was, of course, victorious!

First, the new recruits:





I also got a vindicare model tossed in on a trade, so I decided to add him to the party - with modification of course.
Here he is, all greenstuffed up:



And finally, here are a few turn by turn pics of the battle - no time to write a full battle report though. The CDs are my buddy's ghetto drop pods - some people and their standards...










Let me know what you think - if I get time I'll try and expound on the batrep pics a bit.

Dan

I think the whole army is great, i like the way the army is unified in a ununified way. btw the scuplting is great

still lovin this thread...

esp good work on the assassin conversion

great stuff , i would love to see a picture of the whole army...

Once I get the last group based, I'll try and post a whole army pic.

There are only about 8 more guys in the queue before this army gets put on hold for a bit while other projects take the fore.

wonkobaggins wrote:Painting has been a bit slow lately due to a hectic work schedule, but I've finally managed to finish another batch of troopers (operators?) for D CO. I also squeezed in the time to fight a planetstrike battle with them against an uppity lot of space marines. D Co was, of course, victorious!

First, the new recruits:





I also got a vindicare model tossed in on a trade, so I decided to add him to the party - with modification of course.
Here he is, all greenstuffed up:



And finally, here are a few turn by turn pics of the battle - no time to write a full battle report though. The CDs are my buddy's ghetto drop pods - some people and their standards...










Let me know what you think - if I get time I'll try and expound on the batrep pics a bit.

Dan

please tell me the little boy in the corner isnt you

Leone wrote:great stuff , i would love to see a picture of the whole army...

Yeah it would be nice to see all the army in its epicness

walker90234 wrote:please tell me the little boy in the corner isnt you

Did you have to spam all those pictures, as great as they were, just to ask that?


Now then, love the Heavy Stubber and the Vindicare. Really looking forward to seeing him painted

i didnt know you could quote only part of a post. how do you do it?

walker90234 wrote: part of a post.

Thats how you remove parts you dont want.

Alright, tonight was cleanup night on the Catachan front.

I finished up 2/3 of the unpainted models I still had sitting on my top shelf - there are still 5 ratlings, 1 Ogryn (he's going to be a bodyguard conversion), the old Sly figure and Straken.

That being said, here are the rest of them:






I just actually read the rules on the Vindicare last week and found out I can't use him without an inquisitor! Seeing as how it's pretty unlikely one of those pompous asses from Terra is going to wind up in THIS army, I guess the assassin is going to end up as a sniper squad leader. More's the pity.

Anyway, let me know what you think - Hopefully I'll get that full army shot finished up tomorrow!

Dan

As promised, here are the full army shots of D Co, 7th SF Group, 187th Catachan Infantry Regiment.

All told, they can field 7 veteran squads w/ a variety of weaponry, 1 storm trooper squad, 10 ogryn, 4 birds (2 valks, 2 vends), and 3 scout cars. Additionally, there is the command squad, and a special mission unit w/ 6 certified badasses.

Here are the pics:
First, the whole army pics:





The command squad along with the boss:


And finally, the 6 man SMU - ready to kill kill kill with the cold blue steel:


I can't see expanding this army to apocalypse levels - although I guess I'd pick up a marauder and a few thunderbolts if someone stuffed a grand in my wallet while I was sleeping. That aside, I guess the army is largely finished until I get a wild urge to add an armored corps. I'll post pics of the last couple of models as they're available!

Let me know what you think,

Dan

Utterly Awesome Whats next?

I guess next up is a pile of Lord of the Rings stuff that's been waiting for some brush time. Interspersed into that, I'll be doing a bit more work on the orks and finishing the last few Catachan models - oh, and I've still got the bulk of a sylvan army to finish. I also have a half built dogs of war castle that needs to be completed... I guess there's never any shortage of projects to switch too - the gamer's conundrum.

Dan

Thought of adding some pre heresy Alpha Legion?

Hurm - I'm not seeing any beakies on the horizon - I've just never had any affection for them. Maybe it's just a good old fashion love of the underdog?

Well, in spite of myself, I couldn't resist finishing the last Catachan guys - the lone ogryn just had to get painted up!

Consequently, I've undertaken a Nork Deddog conversion to provide the Colonel with a bodyguard worth of the Company. His name is going to be "Meat", and he's going to do double duty as both a bodyguard and a member of the kill team.

Here he is, in all his ork pounding glory:





As usual, I know the greenstuff work could be a little smoother, but otherwise, I like the conversion pretty well. The ork's feet will be balanced a little better when I actually glue him in there and finish building the base.

Next up, 5 ratlings - they're going to be broken up among the squads as sniper equipped guard stand ins. Any in game objectors will be scoffed at!
Dan

That Ogryn conversion is so beautiful, it makes me want to pound in someone's face.

I like the individuality of your soldiers; even the Ogryns all look different.

Love the John Carpenter Nod well excecuted and themed army...

Love the ogryn

I finished up the space hobbits this evening, as well as the old metal versions of Sly and Straken. I'm not sure if they'll ever get used as themselves, but I like the models enough to paint them anyway. Again, the hobbits are going to be whored out to the infantry squads as designated marksmen - and hasty field cooks of course. In spite of all their bad press, I actually like the sculpts - they do the ratlings justice I think. It's not as though I expect them to look like the Sanguinary guard after all.



I also got Meat painted up, although he still needs his basing finished up.





I'll base him up, and then it's on to a pile of LOTR stuff!

Dan

I finished up meat - here he is:


And here is Team 9386 - "The Predators". It's a 12 man kill team that can be pulled from the company when necessary.



The Major and Team Sergeant are up front. They're ready to maim, kill, recon, or capture just about anything - and look good doing it!

Anyway, that'll probably be the last update for a long while - there aren't any more Catachans waiting for paint at the moment. It's off to work on LOTR stuff and the Freebooterz.

Dan

Fantastic stuff!
love the Ogryn!

You did a great job of sticking to your theme. Looking forward to future projects from you.

Superbly executed!

...and I can't wait to see what your Freebooters look like!

How does the army perform as a whole?

So far it's done well enough, although I haven't played more than a few games with it. As the defenders in planetstrike, it performed well against the ultramarines. It crushed the orks in a small game (they had no tools to deal with the valks). For thematic reasons, it's missing the heavy elements that I think would really make it a solid list, but again, it's a themed list, so no tanks for me.

I'm really looking forward to running the kill team in a few weeks, and as soon as they ship the models to me, I'm going to set up a kill team game against 3 of these guys:


They'll be run as lictors - I can't resist the predator thing of course.

Dan

I take it the AoL CD's represented World Wide Web Ways! I do like Meat all though he does look as if he's nicking the Orks lunch money!

Those my friend are some out right awesome catachans. Love their covers (hats) more than all else, gives em a feel that few other bitz can do for catas.

to quote several songs:

DJ Pied Piper
'Do you really like it?'
'We're loving it, loving it, loving it; we're loving it like that!'

The Saturdays
'Ijust can't get enough, I just can't get enough'

Kiss (nearly)
'These are crazy crazy crazy figs!'

Absolutely love this army-keep it up!'

y'know, If you wanted heavy gun ect, but the themes of the army is fast attacking spec ops, you could alays opt for a valyrie modified to hold a leman russ for fluff's sake nd just say its a normal valk which has just dropped the russ off nd hav the russ go round th board on its own

You're right of course - eventually I might convert up (or buy from FW) a heavy lifter Valk, but honestly I just feel a bit strange adding dirty nasty tankers to my infantry company! Maybe my prejudice will eventually subside.

So I'm in the middle of cleaning up the odds and ends in my hobby cabinet, and I found a blast scape set festering in the half-finished pile. I had to finish it up, if for no other reason than to run a "black hawk down" kill team mission with the crashed space craft. What a great deal this set was! I've heard a good deal of badmouthing of it, but for 20 bucks, I think it's the most plastic I've ever gotten from GW, and the quality is good enough. It's not heavy, resin, FW stuff, but then, it's not 60 bucks worth of craters either.

At any rate, here are the pics (the one armed Nob is for scale only!):






Hope you like them, I didn't know where else to put them!

Dan

i think your marines are fit enough to serve in the first and only great jobwish i could paint like you

The predators have arrived!

I was so excited to see the models, they got bumped to the front of the queue (go figure). There's only one sculpt, but I've done what I can to give them a bit of variety in pose and form. They're going to serve as both Spyrers (for Necromunda) and Lictors (for Kill Team missions). I've already got the stage set for them to fight a Catachan patrol over the space ship ruins in my last post - I'm pretty stoked.

Here are the WIP shots:





I'll be adding the weapon arms tomorrow - they came with a large variety of options, which is always nice.

I'll keep you posted,

Dan

I know I've already posted here but when i saw you updated i had to coe back. I think the predators are cool. But meat the pose of fighting and ork is amazing. Great job.

I know I've already posted here but when i saw you updated i had to coe back. I think the predators are cool. But meat the pose of fighting and ork is amazing. Great job.

Construction on the predator kill team is complete.
I'll start painting them ASAP.

Orrus:

Jakara:

Malcadon:


C&C are welcome of course!

Dan

Even though they are the same pose you did a great job on the sense of movement in the figs. i exspecialy like the last one. Hes like "Taste this sucker!"

Lovely models. You really managed to make them look like different. Lookign forward to seeing them painted up

I like the 1 about to jump, I can imagine him(?) tearing the enermy a new one...LOL

This army is looking really good! Very personal army and so full of character. I'll be following this blog for sure.

Alright, so I finished up the predators, and they're pretty mean looking. I don't guess I fancy my kill team's chance against these guys, but we'll take a swing!
I tried to stick to the "real" predator skin tones, rather than the tones on Heresy's website - just a personal preference. I'm really impressed with the models - they're quite large (roughly proportional to an actual predator) and very detailed. After seeing these guys I might even spring for their dragon model...





Let me know what you think, I'm glad the poses were a hit - single piece metals are a pain to repose!

Dan

Do the plants on the foot bases block line of sight?

Love the paintjob, it looks like they come right out of the movie!

Nah, the plants don't block LOS - I didn't build them with TLOS in mind actually, but for the purposes of 5th ed gaming, I'll just ignore them.

Yeah, the sculpts really capture the predators well - supposedly more are on the way! I can only hope. Maybe there will be an army of these guys (counts as terminators or tyranid warriors?) on the way. Or maybe they'll just live out their lives as Spyrers in the hives. We shall see.

Dan

Catachans, personally I like more Cadians but those guys are great. Absolutely great work, keep it up.

Your paint jobs are fantastic. I look forward to seeing more!

gonna do anymore with the cammo working?

Wow this is so awesome cant wait to see more