What are you basing your stormbird design off of?

Maybe the new Forgeworld one?

I am so glad I found this again STC. Your marine looks stellar, almost Blanche.

I have always been jealous of people who avoid black and instead use blues or browns with greys to make black. I will be following your Stormbird as I wish to build my own soon.

Squuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeee!

He's back, and he brought the awesome!

Nice to see you back in action STC. Excellent progress.

Indeed, the Stormbird will lean quite heavily on the Sokar pattern Stormbird currently in the works over at FW, it will also use it's rules.
I somehow feel that FW won't produce a model for the Warhawk VI Stormbird as it is a damn slight larger than the Sokar and would probably end up at manta-size and I for one do not wish to try to build something -that- big.

The Sokar is described as a late model developed by the Indonysic Block during the Unification wars on Terra from the older and larger Warhawk and Nephoros patterns and was the precursor system that the smaller and nimbler Thunderhawk was designed from.

However it will also take a lot of ques from the Storm Eagle gunship when it comes to hull and enginedesign. Again, I will attempt a modular build here aswell since I am aiming for a fully detailed interior to keep painting it feasible.

"attempt" being the operative word...




Sokar pattern stormbird assault lander for reference.

Good luck! I shall see what I can steal for my Warhawk.

P.S. How did you do the harnesses?

They are looted from the SM Drop Pod kit.

Great to see you back STC, will gladly be watching how these two brilliant vehicles go.

Update time!


Yes, the build goes on and on and it's taking shape nicely. The problems with these kinds of projects is that you are building without a map, or rather, creating, revising and revising the map over and over again as you build the darn thing.
So it takes its' sweet time I'll tell you that.

Pictures!

the top floor is taking shape.



Interior is more or less done, it's just fixing up the corners and tidying things up and then it's off to the primer!







Made some additions for a better powerplant, the original is to puny.




Such gatling, very dakka.





Closing up the top.




Well, here's where we are now.

Looking good!

Looking damn impressive, incredible, awesome and suitably over the top - I love it!

Yeah... what he said!

That looks fantastic! I love what you are doing with the main weapon.

Yup, that's coming up a treat. Love the interior detailing.

That interior is awesome, are you going to add lighting or a removable top so people can see all the work you put into it?

Thats a beast! Really awesome build!

Thank you all, glad you like it.

I will not add any lighting, I don't have the supplies to do the electrical wiring and so on but the top will be removable and I intend to make as many hatches as possible openable and add machinery details inside.

For now I plan on adding two sponsons, each with a single heavy bolter on the sides of the top part.
A bit like in the malcador defender but with a wider sweep-angle, modelling-wise it'll be a standing tube within the margins of the hull so it will (hopefully) resemble the depressed sidesponson on the malcador tank.

like this.

I have NO clue what that thing is or if there's rules for it. But my Iron Warriors want it!

That is looking really great! love the design you've manufactured and the interior is brilliant :-)

@Kepora: It's a more astartes-friendly version of the Stormlord Super-heavy tank, sure my version looses the platform where 20 grunts can stand shooting (transports 40) but I felt that as a heavy assault transport meant to spearhead an armoured thrust into a trenchline or city, protection was paramount.

Also, this one will be used for battles on the Horus Heresy setting so it has more options like being equipped with armored ceramite for melta-immunity or a flareshield to blunt incomming fire (flareshield dongrades all ranged from the fron by -1 str, -2 str if they have some form of blast or template.)

Since it has the assault vehicle rules I thought it needed a proper forward assault-ramp so that the Cataphractii can embark in style.


Original stormlord for reference:

Ahhh, alright. I'm familiar with the Stormlord - your take's just a big departure from it, so that explains it.

I am extremely jealous of your scratch building skills!

Thank you, it's a lot of work but it's really really fun. It's also much easier when you build your own thing rather than copying an existing design because it's so much harder for people to recognize all the small mistakes and somewhat bigger screw-ups.


On a side note: me and a friend is going to start up a small 500pts Heresy Era Zone Mortalis / Suicide Squads thingy and I really want to get to grips with the Mk II and III models and go for an early-crusade era style with volkites wich rather don't fit with the theme for my alpha legion (high-tech, Mk IV - VI ) and so on but I can't decide on a legion.

I am bouncing back and forth between the I, IV, VIII and IX Legions (dark angels, iron warriors, nightlords & raven guard) but I can't make up my damn mind.

Suggestions? Ideas? Pros & Cons?

Raven Guard, obviously!

In fact, I thought you were already there with the Sons of Corax?!?

I made a couple of models of various units, tactical, mor deythan, breacher etc. for a similar thing for the dropsite massacre campaign, now we are looking at a more coherent force.

Pffah, forget the birds - the IVth Legion's the only one ever worth considering.

Will you be scratch building the terrain as well?

Raven Guard are somewhat underrepresented, so I say go for them! They'd also contrast nicely with the AL both in fluff and aesthetic terms (there's plenty of scope to make them really ragtag and gritty, especially post-Dropside).

Your raven guard are gorgeous. Do it!

Everyone wants ravens.... oh well...

@Malika2: I am not sure, probably some of it. I have been meaning to learn how to cast things in resin with silicone molds and this might be a good oppurtunity. scratchbuilding terrain in plasticard is quite expensive and doing repetetive patterns gets old quite fast but if one could build wall-segments and then cast a bunch of them things would indeed be better. At any rate, nothing passes my desk without being converted at least a little.

STC, we all know you can create fantastic ravens. I suggest you apply your creative ideas to something a little different. I think watching you convert Iron Warriors with all of their heavy breacher gear and extra armor would be excellent. I also would be excited to see you apply your painting skills to some nightlords. Of those four choices, I think the raven guard would be my last choice.

Only the emo pansies, STC. Only the emo pansies.

Well, there is also the off-chance I might get me a pile of battle-automata and start a small mechanicum force that can supplement my astartes of whatever legions they now might be.

You know that thing.. when you start picking out the things you want, thinking "this'll make a nice, well-rounded force, a couple of squads, a small support squad, and a small havoc firesupport squad, some cataphractii, you always need a contemptor, a command squad that one can convert into two Centurions.. mmm.. I really want those Vorax battle-automatas.. let's have a squad."

You thrash out a list and it adds up to 2k

Then you go "oh! ... Frak it, I have wanted that Cerastus Castrigator forever.."

Then you remember that you was also going to get that RoB cityfight board and a kit of weathering powders and all of a sudden you remember that yes.. FW is kind of expensive and you still have to get an Imperial Sector terrain kit from GW and you are really happy that you have twoo months wages tucked away for "emergencies".


All I'm saying is I know what I'm going to do the next three-four weeks or so.


Now where on earth can I get my hands on some FoW German Grey primer?

Anyway. Let's get on with things.

Now we are fixing the rear panel in the housing for the Vulcan gatling so one doesnt see into the mess that lies within, also, the crew complains about the draft.

Since we want something nicely curved and somewhat stable we'll need to add somethingfor it to hold on to. A strip of 5x1.5 mm plasticard will do nicely.

Truly awesome scratchbuilding skills! top notch work! Really makes me just go home and build!!!!! Really taking notes on how this monster comes together! ..... for my 2 cents worth... I think this would lend itself very well to IW!!! Just sayin,

This is possibly the best thread I have ever seen! The creativity, imagination and skill you have is amazing. Now removing your balls from my mouth........I was wondering if you could share how you achieved the dark blue/purple for your Heresy Alpha Legion if you don't mind sharing. Hope you don't mind me asking!

Been lurking here forever and made an account specifically to gargle your balls

‘-Can you hear them my brothers? The pitiful shrieks echo through the void, like a flock of crows caught in a firestorm: their cries lost to the inferno´s roar as it consumes them. The slave-children of Lychaeus are no more, their father’s folly has led them to their doom, and now only their ashes remain.’

- Dust Seer Malkoan, Librarius, Pale Nomads Chapter, XIX Legion. 606th Fleet, Excertus Imperialis. Circa 601.006M31.

Location: Unknown.

Maybe I missed it in the 42 pages of this thread, how did you get the really nice indigo color on your ALs? I have been wanting to do AL but didn't want to go the dark blue route since I already have a huge force of Night Lords. So paint scheme has been holding me back for a few years now.

Hmm. I use a mix of vallejo storm blue and a dash of purple to produce the base colour, the models are basecoated with a mix of that indigo mix and black, then worked up to the base mix, then light grey is added for the highlights.

anyway.. I bought some resin!







And a cityscape board..









So begins the next hobby project.

The 1st Legion.. well.. there are no rules out yet so they got cut. I thought long and hard about the 4th Legion, and I worked back and forth with a list comprising of breachers, rapier platforms and artillery tanks with some battle-automata for fun, yet in the end they fell short.
Night Lords or Raven Guard?
Looking at the rules, well, the ravens get fleet & Infiltrate for the non-Bulky infantry (who gets furious charge) and a lot of funny wargear. Bonus squads are shadowmasters – good infantry killers with options for sniper rifles and dark talons- assaultmarines with lightningclaws.
The nightlords however.. they have great character. Bonus to wound whenever they outnumber their foe, nightvision, +1 to all rolls to fall back because you know, if you are going to flee then you flee well. And also the nice rule that if the warlord dies all squads not led by IC’s must take a morale check like if having taken 25% casualties from shooting..
I love it.
And Terror squads.. I love me some terror squads. They are my favourite unit ever. Close-combat veterans that can infiltrate or take drop pods and with the option to add Volkite chargers. And you can make them troops.
Then there’s the fact that they are blue.. I don’t’ want to paint another blue army..

Frak.

Then I thought: ‘-hey wait a sec. what about the terran veterans of the 19th Legion?’ so back to the books I went. Turns out the original warriors of the XIX where a lot different to the ones brought up under Corax. First off they recruited exclusively from Terra, from the Xeric techno-nomads that roamed the southern Asiatic dust-plains that had fought for untold generations against the Yndonisic Block in the north before the Unification of Terra. Frakkin’ aussie-, kiwi- and maori-descended techno-barbarians.. Great. God damned mad max all over the place…
Not only that but they also had a highly cavalier attitude to collateral damage and more prone to the use of terror-tactics, but still murderously efficient in infiltration, sabotage, assassinations and raiding tactics and operated for over a hundred years almost as a specialist formation within the much larger Luna Wolves legion.
Needless to say, Corax, the darn bleeding heart, was less than amused and sent off large portions of the old Terran veterans in nomad-predation fleets out into the halo-zone, the ghoul stars and other far-off places, some almost immediately after resuming command of the legion and the last bunch in 998.M30. Just 8 years before the heresy. And after Isstvan he did not recall them even though these warriors heavily outnumbered his own depleted legion of only 4000 astartes.
We’ll go on an adventure with the Pale Nomads chapter of the XIXth Legiones Astartes, sent into the outer void with sealed orders 80 years before the heresy just as Corax was reunited with the Legion. Veterans of the Unification Wars and the Great Crusade, loyal sons of the Emperor – yet not so loyal to Corvus Corax and the Raven Guard whom they think of as weak and overtly ruled by emotion, not willing to pay the price of victory.

So it’s Night Lords! And Raven Guard!
Night Lord rules – Raven Guard colours and terror-squad galore!

How can this go wrong?




And don't worry, I will finish the damn stormlord, I am almost done with the bridge.

Have a look. There has been progress.













Enjoy!

Sounds like an awesome army concept! Are these the same exiled RG that later possibly became the Characadons Astra Chapter?

Man, what an update! So many good things are going to be in the offing on this blog... just can't wait to see it all unfold.

@Paradigm: Quite possibly, though the books give no pointers to wich of the fleets eventually -returns- to the grey colours of their origin and take the Great White for their sigil. Perhaps it was the nomad-predation fleet led by Arkhas Fal, Legion Commander for over three decades before the discovery of Corax, he got the boot too pretty quick by his primarch. There where quite a lot of them, the majority of the oldest verterans of the legion and every single veteran of the Unification Wars of Terra and the Sol system was eventually exiled in this manner. After that the majority of the remaining Terrans in the Raven Guard were lost at the battle of Gate Forty-Two in the Actum-Sothos Cluster, a battle that decimated the Legion to only 80,000 warriors, this was only a few years before Isstvan.


@Gitsplitta: I know! We're gonna go get us an imperial sector and some other terrain this weekend.

That's one nice haul of resin you got! Which of the HH Characters did you get?

This one ofc!

I kind of assumed so, but thought maybe you got bit by the Primarch bug or some such. Will you be getting Sevetar or Kruse for the NLs? They don't particularly fit your fluff, but are almost auto-gets for Legion armies.

Nah. I prefer to make my own characters and sevatar dosn't have a ruleset that is particularly useful for my army so a well-kitted Preator will suit my needs better since I'll be able to add a Consul for the points-gap.

You lucky Swede... I hope for some reason you are stuck in Old Town when the tourists are afoot!

I'm sorry, that is just a cruel punishment from someone who is jealous. I love that you picked a sub faction inside the legion, that's so cool.

Great update.

‘-Can you hear them my brothers? The pitiful shrieks echo through the void, like a flock of crows caught in a firestorm: their cries lost to the inferno´s roar as it consumes them. The slave-children of Lychaeus are no more, their father’s folly has led them to their doom, and now only their ashes remain.’

- Dust Seer Malkoan, Librarius, Pale Nomads Chapter, XIX Legion. 606th Fleet, Excertus Imperialis. Circa 601.006M31.



‘- I know not what madness has beset Horus Lupercal and the Wolves, nor does it matter. They were our sworn brothers and we wrought war upon the foes of Man for more than a hundred years side-by-side, but that was yesterday. Now they and their ilk are but prey beneath our blades – my hunters will see to that.’

- Consul-Praevian Olakh Sah, Pale Nomads Chapter, XIX Legion. 606th Fleet, Excertus Imperialis. Circa 685.006M31.




‘No, we are not re-deploying to Kiavahr, Fleetmistress, the Legion have spoken and we are of one mind. Let the Raven Lord and his little birds flutter against the storm as best they can, our ´father´ made our position perfectly clear when he sent us into the void so long ago, and even if he escapes Lupercal’s talons he will not recall us. No, we fight as we always have: for the Emperor and the Emperor alone. Let the Primarch and his insipid children rot in their graves: we are sons of Terra and the Emperor, we are the 19th Legion. Dust Clad, the Pale Nomads! We will make the Warmaster remember the hidden blades that brought his Legion so many of its victories, and he will pay for that memory with the blood of his sons!’

- Strike-Captain Khargun Sharn, Battlegroup Commander, XIX Legion. 606th Fleet, Excertus Imperialis. Circa 689.006M31.


‘The Dust Seers whisper of foul portents surrounding the fallen legions, dark things, wyrdling things. No matter, we shall endure, as we endured the psyk-wrougt weapons from before Old Night, wielded by the Tyrant of Ursch as we cast his armies into bloody ruin on the Asiatic plains, as we endured the scouring of the xenos-infested moons of Jupiter and the stygian nightmares that boiled forth from the depths of Lysithea as we purged it with Volkite-fire and dread Phosphex. We shall see their equal in both horror and hardship before this… rebellion has run its course.’

- Ancient Kromus, Contemptor Dreadnought, Deliverers Chapter, XIX Legion. 606th Fleet, Excertus Imperialis. Circa 692.006M31.


‘-Alright, alright! Settle down you mutts! Let me give you the run-down before you return to that mucking about that you sorry excuses for legionnaires call ´knife drills´. In his infinite wisdom our fearless Strike-Captain Sharn, together with the company masters, the Librarius and the Ancients, have decided that we’ll call quits on things here in the outer rim and make haste towards the galaxy proper to engage whatever traitor forces we can find and give them a good thrashing! Yes, yes, I know, we’ll be taking on our former brothers without support, reinforcements and with limited prospects of resupply. So you lot will remain on basic rations, - stop whining trooper Kaon. We will be doing it with the twenty-six hundred battle-brothers of the Pale Nomads, supported by the brave boys and girls of the 638th Solar Auxilia Cohort, Magos Askar’s Reductor war-covenant, seventeen scions of honoured house Scipio, our titan support of nine war-engines of the Legio Praesagius and the forty warships of the intrepid 606th fleet. Against us stands at least eight full legions and their supporting Auxilia, Mechanicum forces and Titan Legions, I’d say we have our work cut out for us boys, so you get back to your drills and sharpen your knives. We effect warp-translation when we reach the Mandeville-point in sixteen hours and from there on you are all on full combat-alert. Dismissed!’

- Centurion Markerian, Pale Nomads Chapter, XIX Legion. 606th Fleet, Excertus Imperialis. Adressing the warriors of the 2nd company abord the Legatus Class battlebarge ‘Charybdis’. Circa 692.006M31.







Yes! The Pale Nomads chapter.

Exited yet? I sure am.

Well, you know how this goes, me an my best buddy marcus will over the forseeable future build, convert, paint and go bananas with our armies and the wonderful, fantastic campaign and cityfight systems in HH4: Conquest.

Why don't I build more bodies for the Legion? well.. first off making them bigger takes quite litterally -forever- and yeah.. wanted to do another army. Also, Marcus also loves the Legion and did insist on playing them so..
Buuut there is mechanicum and solar auxilia allies on the horizon so things will remain interesting I think.

We will start out with 250pts suicide squads, then step it up gradually. Now, I should ask myself: can I use a Contemptor to begin with? No. Can I use a Centurion? Mmmm nope. Can I use a Librarian consul? nope.

Well why am I building those instead of the 10 veterans I should be building?

Shiny. I always fall for the shinies first. Also, I love the Contemptors, they are a joy to work with.



Have som pictures! I know the characters don't have their backpacks on but I need it to be like that so I can paint them properly.
And before you ask: Librarians in 30K does not have access to Psycic hoods, ergo, the model has none.


What fun you can have with the Mk III commandset!








Carving out the teeth and the globes from the world eaters logo was tense but sooo worth it, I do think this is the prettiest contemptor of them all, also, I am very pleased with how the base turned out.

Great update! Are these guys going to have an alternate color scheme or what? I don't know much about the Raven Guard, let alone their pre-heresy start.

Great stuff, and I agree that contemptor is the best.

Is and of that awesome fluff also 'official'?

Were the Terran Based Raven Guard called Pale Nomads and such?

Anyway, as usual, you rock!

Yes Alpharius, I got it directly from the background in HH:3.

The XIXth have two unofficial cognomens listed in the fluff "the Dust Clad" and "the Pale Nomads" first coined by the Luna Wolves whom the legion was attached to in the early days, ie epithets used before an official name was given to supplement the Legion Numeral. Some got theirs early - the Luna Wolves after the pacification of Luna and the capture of it's gene-factories, the Iron Hands where known as "the Iron Tenth" long before they took the name of their gene-father and the XXth have no less than 16 listed with a parentheses reading "732 other cognomen occur in Primaris level archives", among them 'the children of Eris', 'the ghost legion', 'the last unity', 'the amaranth coil' and 'Legion'

The Pale Nomads chapter is also breifly mentioned in two instances. The first about how their Deliverers - the legions name for its formations of Terminator shock-troops where honoured by Hourus for their ferocity in battle and that he included them in his personal retinue until Corax was discovered and claimed the legion. Another notes its large number of veterans of the unification wars and cataphractii assault formations.

Numbers and war-disposition is my own fiction however as no hard numbers are avalible.

I am tinkering with the colours right now, I think I will go with black plate, green lenses, dark metal trim and light grey left shoulderpads with the legion numerical. Going to keep the number of raven-sigils to a minimum to illustrate the cultural gulf between the 'old' legion and the 'new'.

Just loved the way you've mixed man-made and natural objects for that contemptor base. Looks amazing (even unpainted).

Aye, an epic start!

Thank you guys.

I am trying to go all-out and take my time with the bases, sparing no effort (or models) for this project. We will be setting our campaign in the events of book IV (conquest) wich takes place in what will be the Gothic Sector.








We'll start out where the book leaves off: The worlds of the Cyclops cluster, the Grail Abyss, the Manarchean Commonwealth and the Armada Imperialis sector anchorage of Port Maw have fallen to the forces of the warmaster, only the Coronid Reach remains contested.
On Bitter Hold, Darende and Dispater Imperial forces still hold against the Warmaster's onslaught and on Hell Rock the Sons of Horus clash with Iron Hands of the Morragul Clan. Across the Cerada Primus, Secundus, Quavausari and Olverach systems the Tericos of the Agathene Solar Auxila and loyalist Knightly houses are engaging the Taghmata forces of the Cyclothrathi Mechanicum for control and on the Hive World Numinal they have secured victory over the mecanicum invaders, inflicting a sizable loss for the turncoat Forge World.

In the closing months of 008.M31 only one domain outside the Coronid Reach resists the Warmaster: Mezoa. Located to the coreward south-west of the Reach between the heavily populated Cyclops Cluster and the Grail Abyss, the Forge World is under blockade and constant assault by the Death Guard and the Taghmata of nearby M'pandex yet it holds firm, burning the landingzones of the rebels and thus eliminating vital beacheads for their ground assault.

But across the sector, survivors from the killing grounds of Isstvan are slowly tickling in. Not only the Shattered Legions but also bands of survivors from Isstvan III, wearing the black or in some cases; the old.
Warriors in the Stormcloud and crimson of the Dusk Raiders, the Cobalt and calcium white bearing the red dog of the War Hounds. The mist-grey and obsidian of the Luna Wolves.


From the outer dark of the Halo-zone stalks the ebon ships of the XIXth Legion, returning to the Imperium after 8 decades in the void to hunt the traitor legions: yet across the worlds, unseen and unknown; The Legion awaits...

I love it!

Forge on - FORGE ON!

So exciting!

Really looking forward to these seeing some paint.

How about sticking to the pre-unity scheme?

I have concidered it. I might try it out on a test model.

That tone of grey though is a bit like white, daarn tricky to get even gradients with but I shall give it a whirl.

I ordered an airbrush kit a few days ago so that might help with the problem.









Automatically Appended Next Post:
By the way. Have anyone ever worked with forge world's Realm of Battle tiles, specificly the city tiles?

I am pulling my hair with those damn things, I just cant get them level and even, I have managed to reduce the amount by degrees but they still make quite convincing imitations of run-over bananas.

Perhaps I was expecting too much of them but still, it's so frustrating it makes me wanna scream.

Pls help if you know something... anyone!

Have you tried some reclamation ?

No, I thought " I can fix this, easy!", and 3 of them are ok, it's the concourse tile that I can't seem to get in order.

But it always remains an option.

Be sure to take pics before you make any mistake haha...

Oh I have, but I have spoken with FW and they said not to worry. If I can't beat it into shape or if it breaks while I try they'll send me a replacement, also they gave some great tips on how much force you can use on the fiber-resin in the tiles and some tips on how to bang them into shape.

The Concourse section is a lot less sturdy than the others, weighs about half and thus has a bit thinner resin, it's also the one with smallest terraces on so it has greater stability issues.

I really like the customer services of FW, they don't bat an eye at helping out in any way they can.

Love the Mk3 command set. I was originally going to get a Mk2 set but, I like bits from both.

I prefer the MK2 banner and the helmet crest but, hate the second marine included. Mk3, I love everything except for the banner and lack of crest.

I think I will buy the mk3 one as my HH army is going to be mk2 mostly. I dunno, what did you think of the kit? How was it to assemble, etc?

The Mk III command kit was very easy to work with, good fit of parts etc. Fixing the scabbard to the model was a bit tricky but if you assemble as intended it's far more stable and easy.
Over all it's a really nice kit, well detailed and easy to add legion-specific visual tokens to. Also great for converting the models into various consuls.

With some luck I will have some painted minis and maybe some terrain to offer up to you by next week, I just got the airbrush and I am trying to get a handle on that darn thing. Got some old regular marines primed and ready as test.. subjects for this little adventure.

Well, I am slowly getting the grips on this whole airbrushing thing and shall soon dare use it on my models.

After some random shenanigans to get good pressure settings, and a proper feel for the triggerfunctions (also, to what silly levels you need to thin your paints) I let loose of the first FW tile with quite good results.

I am a bit of an airbrush-noob after all.


It's still a painting-in-progress, but the big stuff is done, now I am only going to fix up the scattered weapons and some small boxes and bags with a regular brush and we are done.

well.. it also needs a dusting of pigments for some rust and dust but that will be a later issue..

Anyways, pics for you!

Excellent work STC.... it's got a great feel to it.

More pics please dude! that looks great, perhaps some mini's for fun running around on it? :-)

I return!


Now, I have a centurion, a librarian, 5 veterans and a contemptor all based up with the airbrush and ready for the brushes. I can't really go more detailed with the airbrush I currently use because the spray-pattern is too wide, it's a 0.35 needle so it does not lend itself well to detail work.
The models are primed with a mix of 80:20 Vallejo Black / Vallejo model air Panzer dark grey, are blocked out with 50:50 of the same mix, given a highlight of 25:75 black/grey and finally a zenith highlight of pure Panzer grey.
After this they will have two extreme highligts of panzer grey miced with progressively more white.

Then I will ruin the neat black I have made with scrapes, dents, mud and dust...
Anyway, it's easier to see on the contemptor (though not much) because of the bigger areas than on the infantry, the lack of other colours means it's hard to make out the gradients on the small parts, it just looks, well, black..

I guess you could say I have been a bit too successful with my efforts... anyway, it will pop once the metallics and details are in place.

Pics for you!






Details of the base.






Centurion

That black is great, really shadowy, which suits the Ravenguard brilliantly.

The bases are fantastic too, though I'm not a fan of the dead some of Horus

Everything is great, look forward to more, and seeing how much weathering you subject the black too

Needs moar dead Word Bearers!

Hey! He's already picking one of my legions! Don't give him anymore ideas

Hah, no, don't worry Sheep. There where no word bearers in the Coronid Reach, nor that entire sector so they are quite safe..
I however make no promises regarding my Legion forces..

Nice work here. I really like the weathering and highlights on that terrain tile with the copper-colored storage tank.

Thank you, it was my first experiment with the airbrush and I am mightily pleased with the outcome.

After a small break I am back at it again, starting out small with some conversionwork to get some appropriate weapons for one of my Mk II squads.
Recon squad legionaires needs sniperrifles after all.


For inspiration I used this, the Atrox-pattern boltrifle designed by Iron Hands Fanatic over at the Bolter & Chainsword with his magic photoshop-fu skills.






Now, lets build some models!

First we need a base to work on, this is the phobos-pattern boltgun.




Clean it up, then carefully remove the magazine and the forward sight-thingy and put them aside, we'll need them later. Then cut carefully along the upper line of the body to level the edge all the way to the rear of the casing, the middle part will form the mountingpoint for the scope so don't shave it all away.




Drill a hole for where a bit of brass rod will fix the new barrel to the body, about 4-5 mm deep.




Cut a length of 1mm brass rod, and some plastic tube ( 2mm, 1,5 cm long) for the barrel.




Attach the barrel, drill a couple of holes in the front as muzzlebreaks and cut up two pieces of 1mm styrene sheet into shape for the stock.




Cut another piece of sheet for the stock plate and some 0.3mm sheet for the padding.




Now, cut down the forward kick-sight to remove the vertical slants, only the curved part should remain. This is quite tricky so be patient and be sure to use a fresh scalpel blade for this. The magazine has five visable bullets, shorten it so only three remain and re-attach the mag to the reciver.




Now make a scope from some plastic tubing (or use a ready-made one if you have it) and attach to the body.





Rinse and repeat!

Bolt Rifles. I didnt know those were a thing. Looks pretty damn cool!

That... is a fantastic conversion!

Impressive stuff! Do you plan to grab the new RG special squad from Forge World at any point, or just keep spicing up regular/recon marines?

Thank you.

No, the RG specialists are pretty but at a £50 pricetag.. no, they are not that pretty.
Also, I use nightlords rules for my RG, the Mor deythan are all born on Khiavar and my force are Terran veterans all. so we'll see what rules I will use. tactical veterans with sniper perhaps...

What is the recipe for the Sons of Horus colours that you painted on the base?

It is an amazing colour, I want to use it on blades and lenses.

Also how did you do the power sword/lenses a few pages back on your raven guard? I also want that for lenses.

Wow. Nice work converting the bolt rifles. Conversions with resin terrify me as if it all goes wrong it's an expensive mistake.

Great work, though, I'm really looking forward to seeing more.

D

Wow... brillliant, brilliant bolt snipers.

And thus, we do return to Dakka with offerings to the new year.

Let me just get one thing straight - Rivets. I -HATE- rivets, I have spent a whole afternoon adding well over a hundred of the small fiddly sons-of-goats on the super-heavy, it looks good, but I also feel I went ever so slightly insane.

Speaking of insanity, I am expanding the bolt-rifle squad to 10, are scrounging the bitboxes for topknots and generally converting every, single, model in the RG force.. we shall see when it gets finished, probably late this summer.

This is a problem.

My opponent is not converting anything, and does most of his painting with the FW-style of Alpha Legion, IE a black primer, airbrushing the model metal, adding a zenithal highlight of silver, then airbrushing the whole damn thing with a mix of blue and green clearcoats for honestly stunning effects with the MKII marines..

SO.. I have to get a 3d horus heresy army that can be airbrushed to tabletop standard quickly (so not black) and one that i can refrain from converting the living daylights out of.
To that effect I have bought a BaC-box and assembled the damn thing -without- (oh well, only a little) conversionwork and are currently trying to decide what to paint them as.
I am leaning towards Sons of Horus or Blood Angels, SoH I know how to paint and BA woulr be a nice break from what I have painted previously and having a go at red might be fun.


Anyway, in the mean time..

IT IS DONE, IT IS OVER, IT HAS BEEN FINISHED!

Gentlemen,I present to you: The Myrmidon-Pattern Legion Stormlord super-heavy assault tank.











I managed to solve the issue with keeping the top removable so that the interior could be seen.





The model also retains (for now) removable interior and assaultramp to make painting possible without ruining my wrists.

Wow that looks absolutely amazing, all those rivets paid off thats for sure.

As for which 30k army SoH could be cool. The new Thousand Sons scheme is quite sexy as well, would look excellent against the Alpha Legion done in a similar style.

Since no one else has commented, I will. Edit: Ninja'd while typing
I love that tank, I wish I could make one like it. It looks splendid.
I thought you were going with ravenguard? I think your SoH take would be fantastic but, BA are lovely too.

Thanks guys.

Well I am. The XXth Legion is my first, and a zone mortalis force. The second is the XIXth but they take forever because of all the conversionwork so I need to slot something in between to paint and play with while I butcher up and remodel all that resin for the raven guard force.

It looks great STC, but I hate to say it... I think the panels above the treads need a lot more rivets to be believable.

Wow, that is indeed a brilliant looking tank, way to travel comfortably before a beatdown !

You're doing the Legion proud STC_LE!

Great work on the tank, especially the rivers. The work pays off in the end. How about doing a less seen chapter like the Scars or Salamanders?

Wow, that beast of a tank is superb! Can't wait to see it painted. Which Legion is it destined for?

As for the new force, how about the Iron Hands? They're actually dead easy to paint in a similar style to the AL you mentioned your opponent is doing; just prime them black, drybrush/zenithal airbrush silver, throw down 2 black washes, add markings and weathering, Ferrus's your uncle, Fulgrim's your aunt, you're done! Having done a good portion of my BaC stuff that way, it looks way better than it arguably should for the effort involved.

Big tank is BIG! Nice work.

Thank you for the kind words gents.

As for the suggestions of sallies/scars/boys of ferrus, well.. thing is I never fancied those legions one bit I am afraid.

As for the Stormlord, it will go with the BaC-box and form the new army.

See, the first, the Legion force, is a veteran-tactical based zone-mortalis force, and as such quite small. The second is an iteration of the XIXth legion formed of unification war veterans and Terran recruits with a distinct early-crusade disposition: MK II Warplate, volkite chargers as the standard arms rather than the terran bolter. A drop pod / infiltration force with a low model count.

This third host will be centered around the idea of late era Legion warfare, mass-deployment of tactical squads either on foot or as an armored spearhead, the army's backbone will be three, fully kitted, 20-man tactical squads an a 10-strong cataphractii unit.
I am thinking a siege-assault formation, a linebreaker company specializing in fixed-point assaults, the unit that is called up to lead forlorn hopes against fortress gates, breach trenchlines to strike at hostile macro-emplacements at the enemy's rear and run search-and-destroy sweeps through contested hab-blocs and wards.

In short, the poor, bloody infantry. No specialists or fancy tactics, just bolters, knives and bodies, and when the fire gets too thick: call up the cataphracts to wade through it while the regulars outflank and give what covering fire possible.


I know what you'd say.. "why not iron warriors?" yes. well, I don't want a stereotypical force here, and more importantly: I don't want to paint a vast sea of metallics (or yellow) but somthing more colourful.

I think I will settle for the IXth Legion, otherwise I'd have to do loyalist sons of horus and where is the fun in that?

It's Painting!


Say hello to the IX Legion.

Not used to seeing them so orange but, the BA are a good choice.

I have every faith that STC will get them where they need to be, and in style!

Oh, tehy're fresh from batchpainting the red and with all other details blocked in black primer, once the metallics, leather and transfers ar in place they will be heavily weathered.
Scratches, oilwashes, graphite rubbings and pigments: the whole nine yards! (finally gonna put into practice all the stuff I have been testing from FW's Masterclass books.)

I never liked the clear bright red they stuck the BA with in 40k, I am going for more of an umber tone, a bit more.. well. dark I guess.

 STC_LogisEngine wrote:
It's Painting!


Say hello to the IX Legion.

Glory to the IX Legion! Very interested in seeing what you do with these.

Not to mention Red is a bloody hard colour to photograph so it looks as you see it! but I'm very keen to see this lot!

Good to see another PH BA army taking shape. Definitely looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

The tank is INSANE!!! great work sir.

nerdfest09: Not to mention Red is a bloody hard colour to photograph so it looks as you see it! but I'm very keen to see this lot!

A bit, they went slightly more orange and flat than what they really are, might be the contrast...

Eggroll: Good to see another PH BA army taking shape. Definitely looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

I'll do my best.

migsula: The tank is INSANE!!! great work sir.

Thank you, it's a labour of love, tears and boundless frustration.

Love the tank on the previous page, a true work of art.

Yey for Heresy era BA!

EDC

(As a sidenote, I must say that the limited capacity for formating text in these entries are slightly annoying once you start posting on the B&C, they have some sweet tools. )




XIX



Pathfinders



Consul-Praevian Olakh Sah

The Huntsman, Master of the Scyllarius maniples, named the Blood Reaver















5th Recon Talon



[<exloaded from>] Shanhorst, magos logis, data-autoptic covenant

(000110101001001000111100, code compression qmz)

[supplementary data modules collated, stream 01]

[Intercepted vox-fragment, fall of Panthius Spaceport, Bitter Hold. 601.009.M31]

[Loading]

[Begins]

[...] control, marauder one actual, confirm.

[< unintelligible, lexmechanics propose unknown legion battle-cant. 4.56 seconds >]

Control, target just hit point beta-quintus-gamma, off-axis zero-five-seven, fifteen minutes.

Entering kill-box in 32 seconds on current vector.

[squad vox] Here kitty kitty kitty..

[squad vox, stifled laughter]

[squad vox] you do realise if you toll the bell now we have to inscribe your memorial with the words 'mauled unto death by XIV Legion kitty auxilia, died from fluff' right?

[squad vox, laughter]

Vox please. But yes trooper masoth, khas is correct, it will be a very dignified event.

[< vox static, unintelligible, (legion-cant?) 3,21 seconds >]

Copy last control, marauder one engaging.

Masoth! Prime the charges and pick your targets, reavers are in position. Let's bag us som kitties boys!

[squad vox, laughter]

[<Fragment Ends>]


[< Attendum: on-site scans reveal multiple impact-patterns indicative of the use of heavy penetrator rounds of a make and caliber

singularly developed for use with the defunct Phobos - Atrox pattern bolt rifle. >]



Marauder One

Those are just stunning!

Oh gawd, I love those bolter conversions. Absolutely amazing.

EDC

Just love the gun conversions. Those figures look fantastic.

I'll take a squad of ten, please!

Simply amazing - as always!

Thank you, glad you liked them.

and, oh, Alpharius, there is a tutorial for the guns, just make them yourself.

Wow, I have really neglected to update here.

I made another tank.
Salvageing an age-old shadowsword that was quite litterally collecting dust in a box, freshening it up with a new gun and som additional detail.

A lick of paint and it will serve it's new Legion well, also, since there is no rules for huge volkite-cannons I'll be running this one as a fancy Legion Stormblade.



How the gun was made (with insanity, joy and lots of weapons-grade coffee):












After this I went on a bit of track and forgot to take pictures, this is the near-finished product though, at this stage it just lacks a heap of rivets and some other minor details but since I just primed it black.. well.. you'll just have to wait until it's painted I guess, while it's black you can't take pics worth a damn.

Wow... that is a lovely gun!

Very cool!

Thank you gents, I do try.

Well, you certainly do more than just 'try' - you succeed, and you do that in an amazing fashion!

Always good to see more of your work - and don't be such a stranger!

Great conversion work!

Haven't seen this blog for aaages! I absolutely loved your alpha legion stuff when I first saw the thread some time back. The latest work on the super heavy is excellent. It's stuff like this that makes me want to get into the habit of using plastic card more often

Thank you, as vacation sets in for the next 5 weeks I should hopefully be able to paint something as well.

So, after an (extended) break from the hobby I got a new boost of both inspiration and time (especially time, wich has been an issue) and acctually painted something.

I also kitbasched a squad of Destroyers for my nomads in the desperate hope that FW will soon revisit their rules and make them woth the humongous load of points they currently cost.

Taking pictures I also remembered why I needed a lightbox. Anyone know a good one?







XIX



Memories of Unification







[<exloaded from>] Shanhorst, magos logis, data-autoptic covenant

(000110101001101010111100, code compression qmz)

[supplementary data modules collated, stream 01]

[Intercepted vox-fragment, fall of Panthius Spaceport, Bitter Hold. 601.009.M31]

[Loading]

[Begins]



[...] ..I do not care if the Automata are below optimum operational capacity, if they can walk they can fight! Now ge[< vox static, electromagnetic disturbance from high-energy detonation. 2.03 seconds >] Feth! Get your maniples here now Olakh! Out!


Control, this is Marauder One actual. We are holding the dock with 2nd Talon and 9th Support, light casaulties, situation deteriorating fast! We're getting chewed up out here Control, I need counter-battery fire on their damn artillery before they range in and I have Breachers massing 300 out!


[< unintelligible, lexmechanics propose unknown legion battle-cant rendering decryption impossible. 5.39 seconds >]


I KNOW! I just spoke to him control, and it's slow going over there, by the time Olakh gets here we'll be up to our noses in angry mint-green Breachers. We'll have to fall back if you can't find us any support!


[< unintelligible, lexmechanics propose unknown legion battle-cant rendering decryption impossible. 8.02 seconds >]


oh.. Oh, that will do indeed. Marauder one Out.


[Squad Vox-grid] Hang tight boys, we got hunter-killer support in 30, comming up our rear, hug cover and keep those damn Breachers pinned!


[<undiscernably legion-cant, sussurating vox-static indicative of heavy Volkite-discharge>]


[Cross-spectrum vox discharge, signal flux-density estimated 220M Janskys] DEATH TO THE DEFILERS! FOR THE EMPEROR AND THE LEGION!


[Squad Vox-grid] Holy Feth!


[<Heavy vox-static, intermitted sounds of detonations>]


[Squad Vox-grid] I thought you said from the rear Sarge!?


[Squad Vox-grid] Well. *Laughter* I guess the Old One got impatient and took the shortcut through the hangar walls. Now scope those bastards, keep them off 2nd's backs you mutts!


[<Fragment Ends>]









Ancient Autarion


MK IV Ironform, the Black Fury, firstborn of the Legion, known as the War Crow




"-Veteran of the unification wars, once-captian of the 2nd Breacher company and one of the few who walked away form the Jovian campaign

with all limbs still attached, Captain Autarion met his first death on the void-decks of Peshawar Station orbiting Karnak, in the 53d year of

the Great Crusade. Mortally wounded by a Khrave eviscerator-fusil, his left side shredded by hundreds of adamantium micro-darts.

Following his ascent to a hallowed ironform, Autarion continued to operate in his favoured theatre of war, boarding actions, urban assaults and

other Zone Mortalis operations with distinction, often in direct support of the Legions Destroyer formations."

Is that a contemptor multimelta? How was that conversion?

Nicely done STC, enjoyed the lead-in too.

@whalemusic360: It is, I had a leftover one from the BaC-Box and this model originaly had a plasmacannon. So I cut away the cannon part, removed a part of the bottom to harmonise the size with the CCW-arm and stuck the MM beneath. Turned out quite well I think.

@Gitsplitta: Thanks, I do enjoy building a story around the army so I thought I should share that too. For completeness sake.

Holy Throne... Dat super heavy doe!

I wish that my plasticard skills were that good: if they were, my tanks wouldn't be as wonky as the Warp! Do you just use a metal ruler and scalpel to cut the card or do you make use of one of those angle cutters? If so, I need one...

So far I only use an exactoknife and a metal ruler, I would like som angle cutters but I never get around to getting one...

I think I need a new ruler then... When it comes to replicating parts, I find it doesn't matter how careful I am, they always come out on the piss.

Have only just looked through the last three pages but absolutely stunning work. Will read the rest of the pages once I get some proper free time, inspiring work across the board STC

Whatever happened to the Stormbird?

Workers at the production-plant is on extended strike so no progress has so far been made

However since the Stormlord and Volkite-Stormblade are now done it's the only scratch-build I currently have on my table so it might soon see some more work.

Excellent to see you back in action! I read this for a while as an anon, but now i've got an account and everything! I like the dread here, excellent conversion work!

Not enough Raven Guard!!! Why?!?!!!

Sheesh, there's a dreadnought out and I have a moritat and some destroyers for the XIXth legion in the pipe, give it time

I'm so glad you've kept this blog going, dude. Scratch builds and paint jobs to soothe the soul. Always been one of my favourite blogs!

WWWOOOOO!!!! Very impressive work... those marines on the previous page are bad ass!!! Very individual look and nice energetic feel to them!

Thanks guys, glad you like them.

So yeah, why have a single project when you can have two?!

I got my grubby paws on a BoP box an built meslef some sniper-Veterans, because why the hell not?

This time around we go with the Sons of Horus, quick, fun and easy to paint. looks quite good too and is a great army for infantry-heavy close range bolter action (wich is what we are doing here).
Also they are green, i like painting green.

Got a testmodel almost done, it lacks a base and s helping of pigment-powder but is otherwise done, thoughts and so forth are always welcome.

Nice job on the Sniper Vets, the extended barrel does the job perfectly, the weathering on the armour looks great too.

EDC

I will shamelessly say I stole your sniper bolted conversion (pics in my blog, link in my signature). This blog continues to amaze me. Continue with your great work!

Excellent. The weathering and battle damage just brings him to life.

Very nice! I love the weathering on the armor, and it contrasts nicely with the beautiful teal of it.

Thanks guys.

Right now I am making a Heavy tank from scrap in my bitsbox (who even has half a landraider and a baneblade turrent in his bitsbox?), I thought I might be able to use it as a Malcador Assault tank, belive it or not, those are fast as hell and twice as nasty in the Heresy, also, being the only superheavy in the HS-slot.

Now I am using some wonky pieces and trying to make it work and it's very WIP, the hull is no way near finished, I still need to Craft sponsons for the lascannons, stowage, RIVETS! and fill gaps and stuff, it's only about two afternoons spent on this so far.

That's AWESOME!

My bits box consists of mostly BaC and BoP parts, Chaos Space marines, elves and WoC. Oh, and GK. They seem to be everywhere.

On the subject of bits boxes, would you by any chance have any HH-era power armour legs? I lost my BaC sprue with the last two on them, and cant find any legs on eBay...

Awesome work dude, this is probably my favourite blog out there!

Did you know that this is the most exalted thread ever on dakka? if not you do now.
very cool

Thank you

No, I don't have any spare legs I am afraid, I have used them all.

So, I'm painting up my Flambard Superheavy Tank for my XIXth legion force, because one van never have enough Choom! Volkites on everything!

It's a bit bright but it will darken down quite bit once we get som mud, dust, burns, impactdamage and some freehand and decals on this wee thing.

That is an insane gun.... I love it!

RAVEN GUARD! YAY!

Thanks, well it is a scout-titan scale Volkite; it's supposed to be insane.

While I do denominate it as the Volcanum-Pattern Flambard Special Weapons Tank (the Volcanum being the Mechanicum Forge-Ark bonded to the Pale Nomads Chapter's expedition fleet into the Halo-zone), rules-wise it's a stormblade, and the Telerac-pattern Volkite Columbiad (for now) a plasma blastgun (though being a bit bigger).

I do prefer the Telerac-pattern aestetic to the more stripped-down look of the Mars-Omega, (the infantry-used charger, caliver and culverin) wich lacks the inverted crescent-cowling and is a bit more messy while the former has a more compact and sleek design: fitting as it is a far older design than the Mars-Omega and traces its origin to the cataclysmic wars and machine-rebellions of Old Night.

Lovely work as always, dude. Keep at it!

I understood less than half of that...

Well.. I have been mismanageing this indeed...

Sooo I have finished a leviathan foa my 30K / 40K Legion force, and started a count as Xiphon interceptor.
Now that I have managed to repair my compressor for the airbrush I should really get on with painting.

Anyway.

Woo hoo!

Glad to see you back here and posting awesome stuff!

That flyer....amazing!

That Leviathan is beyond lovely.

The flyer is great. I wonder how the bits on the end of the wings will look as they are very chunky, but I am sure you will make it work.

Beautiful blue on that dread! And impressive build on the plane, looking proper.

Thanks guys!


You know how a reasonable person might paint a single vehicle or squad at the time?

Yeah. No.

Let's paint 3 vehicles, 30 infantry and 3 characters in one go!

Haake palle!

Well, we have some progress!

Say hello to the Legion Malcador Assault Tank, the main battle tank of the Legiones Astartes during the Unification Wars and early years of the great crusade before being replaced with the Land Raider and relegated to a reserve role.








And one can always need a proteus raider with a battery of lascannons

Beautiful tanks, the Proteus looks particularly delicious - it must be the difference in armor design compared to the Malcador (which is covered in ridges and recessed panels) that makes it stand out a little more for me, re: smooth paint + weathering.

Which isn't to say the Malcador isn't literally awesome, and that armament O_O

Love that Malcador- the muzzle burn is perfect! The whole paint job is realistic and convincing, but the worn sections of the weapons systems is spot on.

Thanks guys, glad you liked it

It was really worth all the work scratchbuliding that volkite cannon

Beautiful work STC. Certainly worth the effort.

So, this was a little passion-project that sprung forth from the strategic bitz-reserve once I remembered i would need a force-commander HQ to unlock the Provenances of War I need, having read through the entry and some other stuff I realised you could give the madman a 3+/3++ save, some fun psykana like the Everchanging Axiom or a Null-Collar and well.. this was born from the "what if I just add ALL the wargear". I initially wanted to give it a really big sword but I have none that fit well, also, it can't take a relic-blade or similar and the powerfist lent an air of brutality. I might build another one once a suitable blade floats my way.

Awesome stuff as always, STC_LogisEngine!

Glad to see you hereabouts too - hopefully all is well with you and yours!

I love the green highlighting, it gives me some ideas for my own Alpha Legion force.

Thanks guys.

Yeah, all is well. If anything I have too much work to do as I work with building infrastructure specializing (among other things) in hospitals and labs.
Also a bit miffed that the Forgeworld order I made on the 23d last month for a pile of knights are still in limbo but I am hopeful that the order will show up soon.

Anyway, I made a grav-rhino and some rangers and a Sacristan (techpriest) for my knight house auxilia, good fun.

In Horus Heresy these guys will be militia recon troops with carapace armour and sniper rifles and (if I ever get around to acctually playing the new edition) in 40K I'll run them like as a squad of skitarii rangers.

Wow your scratch building and conversion work is amazing! And your painting is top-notch