Checked out Thing 1's plog, neat painting btw Gits. I'm sure that will be a Christmas present that your son will appreciate.

Also...

Merry Christmas Gitsplitta.

Hope you have an enjoyable festive season in the States.

Gathering Storm

Christmas morning update:


West African coffee in a custom made, Tranquility Campaign mug. (Thanks beezley1981!)

Also in my SWAG for the day... Forge World Mk-IV Iron Clad, Forge World Inquisition Rhino Doors, Forge World Mk-VI era special weapons and bionic bits packs (2 each).

That should keep me out of trouble for a while!

merry christmas all!

Merry Christmas Gits.
Can't wait to see what you make with your 'swag'

that mug is awesome! I just saw it, the picture hadn't uploaded before! wow. amazing gift!

Perfect for those sneaky cups of coffee

Very cool mug, I agree with BBL, we expect big things from your FW gear!

That coffee mug is all sorts of awsome. You should spike your coffee with some baileys or Kahluhato make it more 'camo' worthy. :-)

Excellent news on the FW stuff. :-)

Man I hope this blog keeps going for a long time. Even though I don't comment much it is always a pleasure seeing and reading what you guys are up to. (and more pictures of that amzing dread)

Merry chrismas

Man that cup is awesome! I would die for a custom piece of warhammer swag like that!

You don't have to die for it, just save up some dough and contact beezley1981. I happen to know he's got a second Tranquility pattern mug lying about, and does other custom orders as well.

thats very cool, i may have to look into that some time

Nice mug! Can't wait to see the forge world gear in action!

Cool mug, and I can't wait to see more on this project.

Merry xmas to casa del gits! Great stuff as always.

Thanks guys! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all!

I'm kind of ODing on the simplicity of using the airbrush in the necrons which has temporarily derailed the MW project. I expect to more than double Thing 1's painted force by the end of the week (have most of the week off). However... not to abandon my MW project... I will finish the sergeant today and begin the assembly process on both Inushi for Ice and the first of the vanguard with Blackhand's bits.

Will post pics as I get them.

OMG I can not wait. Inushi is going to be awesome.

Big day at the Mantis Warrior armory....

Four (4), fully assembled dreadnought drop pods that were requisitioned from paulguise at the Dakka Swap Shop arrived today. They came with the sprues with all the infantry extras, but the pods themselves are set up for dreads which is perfect! Nicely assembled and in perfect condition Wooot!!

Also, Iceangel's marine for the GMS arrived today, so as soon as I get his shoulder pad on him I'll post a pic! I am energized!! Time to work my MW's into the mix of painting (along with the Necrons and Nids).

Seems everyone is working on projects today lol

Like the FW Dread pods? I covet them.

No, these are just normal pods... they just don't have the guts in them so they're empty like a dread pod would be. Unfortunately there's no way to get a dread IN the pod (doors are too small, but for all intents and purposes, they'll work just fine. If I get ambitious I can remove and magnetize one of the supporting members so a dread can actually be housed in the pod... but I doubt I'll be that ambitious.

Damn!, I never thought to leave the infantry racks out of the drop pods! I may have to gut the one I have....

If you live closer to britain and want a mug I am doing them - see my blog. I came up with the idea independantly honest! Havn't glazed any yet but you can see work in progress on a horned skull, eldar craftworld symbol and of course the purity seal.

here we go - work in progress in the studio

@Blackhand: Well, it turns out one of the support members on one of the pods was loose so I gently pulled it out. Unfortunately the space inside the pods is simply not tall enough to house a dread. Would have loved to put a pod on the table & open the doors to reveal a dread but I guess it's not to be. Still, considering the dread will be moving out of the pod on deployment, I don't see it as a big problem. And the price was right... and they're nicely assembled already.

@weety: If you can come up with a convincing Bad Moon symbol... you've got a sale! Those are nice!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
In case you hadn't heard, Chapterhouse is getting taken to court by you-know-who... If you are sympathetic to the service they provide (and if you follow this blog you've seen the direct benefits of it) please consider donating a small amount to the defense fund. I have. An extra $5 or $10 from enough people can make a big difference! You can donate through PayPal directly from their web site.
Here's the link... http://chapterhousestudios.com/webshop/home

Thanks,
Gitsplitta

weak i hate it when a small bissuness is sued by an big bissnuess. i know how it feels i got sued by an Canadian company becuase my youtube account was called Metal Animation studios and there company was called Metal Animtion studio... but i hope chapterhouse wins the law suit i did.

are they really getting taken down by GW! thats insane! they aren't doing anything but helping the hobby! thats so silly!

Standard GW practice Sage. And there's no guarantee they're being "taken down"... but they are being taken to court and will have to defend themselves.

A lot of people get taken down for helping the hobby, and this is truly is an unfortunate turn of events.

I really wish i could help, but unfortunately contractual obligations keep me from doing so, I hope they come out without getting beaten up too bad.

Gutting, especially when I know how much trouble Chapterhouse go through in order to keep from stepping on GW's IP. I will be sending Nick an email of support and making a donation to help the cause.

@ Git I don't have a plastic pod so I'm not sure of the fitting but if the dreads arms were removable would it fit? and could you mount the arms (magnets) on the walls or doors of the pod at least that way you could transport it inside the pod so it wont break on you.

@ weetyskemian44 Damn nice mugs can you do a Legion of the Damned one all flaming and skulls... sign on the side saying "Cino of the Damned"


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ Git that sux about Chapterhouse, I sent them a donation as soon as I heard about it!

Santobell wrote:@ Git I don't have a plastic pod so I'm not sure of the fitting but if the dreads arms were removable would it fit? and could you mount the arms (magnets) on the walls or doors of the pod at least that way you could transport it inside the pod so it wont break on you.

Actually it's the distance from the base to the top of the engine exhaust that is the problem.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ Git that sux about Chapterhouse, I sent them a donation as soon as I heard about it!

Good man. I'm sure they appreciate it! Even a couple of bucks if donated by enough people can add up quickly, and besides that it lets them know that people appreciate what they're doing.

Apologies for taking your thread down dark paths.

Then don't donate... but this blog is not the place to debate the merits or misdeeds of Chapterhouse. I choose to support them because they have provided me with critical things for the pursuit of my hobby that GW has not. I'm guessing from your statement that you do not support them... that's fine. To each his own.

I'm asking everyone (both supporters and detractors) to let it lie for now and not turn this blog into a C-house or GW flame war. The courts will sort it out. Help them if you want, or not as pleases you and suits your conscience. If you want to debate the merits... here's a good thread to go to. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/336131.page

Thanks,
Gits

Wow.....just wow. It is amazing all of it. And the cup THAT IS HARDCORE!!!!! I'd So buy one if it was on the shelf.

Love the mug Gits. Just hope your sons don't want one for their armies

Also, OT: I'm about to embark on my SW army adventure. 40x dudes and 4x Rhinos here I come lol

@comisarmilo: Thanks! Love my mug...

@BBL: LOL That'll keep you busy for a while.


I want to thank everyone for being patient. I've spent the last couple of weeks painting about 2000 points in Nids and Crons for my boys. I should finish their immediate projects today, giving them both fully painted, legal armies to practice with. At that point, I will turn my full attention back to my Mantis Warriors for a while.

Thanks for your continued support and patience. Hope t have a substantive update soon.

Gits

Can't wait for the next update


As I don't have my codex, I am a bit worried about starting to build (damn slow shippers on ebay) because there are two 'one handed' bolters, and I'm not sure what to put for their other hand...
Oh well. I'll make do.

auspex, ammo clip, combat knife, grenade, snickers bar... damn near anything would do. Be creative!

Snickers Bar....Because in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future...Snickers Really Satisfies.

Loving what you've been doing Gits and as always looking forward to more.

Gits and FITZZ, because of you two, I now have to have someone with a snickers bar.
It will be done!


Also, I googled up Grey Hunters, turns out they have Bolters, Bolt Pistols, and Chain Swords. Time to go build

Snickers bars are -1 to hunger, so that will be nice.

whalemusic360 wrote:Snickers bars are -1 to hunger, so that will be nice.

Snickers, feed your wild hunger

I think somebody needs to make an apothecary or mad doc handing out snickers bars to the wounded... put's a whole new spin on "feel no pain".

A techmarine with a snickers bar in his servo packs arms

Then the Eldar get PB cups, you know for the shurkin cup cannons, IG MM's, Jawbreakers for Orks, Gummy worms for Nids, Candy corn ( older the better) for Cron's, and sourballs for chaos... Nothing for Tau.. candy is not good for the greater good.

I Need a vacation.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Any way back to the thread - have you decided on the green color for the regular mantis warriors? Your current colors or are you thinking of a more earthy green as in the IA10 book?

Tootsie pops for the kroot (marine walks to a tree and asks a kroot how many licks it takes the kroot squacks then bites the pop then the marine)

Oh my....

Space Wolf should totally have a Mini-keg of Beer. Or a leg of something roasted.

A little actual progress tonight in spite of not quite getting everything done I wanted (Necrons are done and moved the last 6 stealers along a few steps, but did not fihish them).

I did however, take a beakie helmet, separate it into it's two component parts (helmet and face plate) and hollow out the helmet part. Then I will scatter the two parts on the ground beneath the sergeant & paint to represent a damaged, discarded helmet.

Well that sounds awesome, and quite painstaking. Ah the trouble we go through.

Gitsplitta wrote:A little actual progress tonight in spite of not quite getting everything done I wanted (Necrons are done and moved the last 6 stealers along a few steps, but did not fihish them).

I did however, take a beakie helmet, separate it into it's two component parts (helmet and face plate) and hollow out the helmet part. Then I will scatter the two parts on the ground beneath the sergeant & paint to represent a damaged, discarded helmet.

Good idea Git! I may have to try that out as well.

Gitsplitta wrote:A little actual progress tonight in spite of not quite getting everything done I wanted (Necrons are done and moved the last 6 stealers along a few steps, but did not fihish them).

I did however, take a beakie helmet, separate it into it's two component parts (helmet and face plate) and hollow out the helmet part. Then I will scatter the two parts on the ground beneath the sergeant & paint to represent a damaged, discarded helmet.

Sounds promising!

cant wait too see. and too you all happy new year i

wolfshadow wrote:Oh my....

Space Wolf should totally have a Mini-keg of Beer. Or a leg of something roasted.

Not quite the candy theme.. so if I'm reaching forgive me.. candy for a blood eagle-ing, super armored meat on the bone space Viking would be a Victoria secret catalog!
Not meant to be offensive, if you are then substitute .. Jelly beans in place of.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Gitsplitta wrote:A little actual progress tonight in spite of not quite getting everything done I wanted (Necrons are done and moved the last 6 stealers along a few steps, but did not fihish them).

I did however, take a beakie helmet, separate it into it's two component parts (helmet and face plate) and hollow out the helmet part. Then I will scatter the two parts on the ground beneath the sergeant & paint to represent a damaged, discarded helmet.

Were you able to save both peices of the same helmet? with the width of the blade/saw probably removing a big chunk of the helmet?

Oh yeah. You guys know I've been preaching the wonders of a real jeweler's saw for months now. I just made one clean cut along the curve of the helmet and viola, I have my two parts, both usable. Enough of the eye section was lost in the cut that the lenses won't be recognizable, but then I always figured they could retract into the helmet if necessary anyway. You want to see a pic of the pieces?

Sure

WIP of disassembled helmet.

Nice job with the helmet, I used to be fond of cutting off the beak and putting a face in the helmet, pretty sure I never managed to salvage the beak though.

I might do one "hinged" like an old time pig-faced bascinet some day.... would be a fun pose to be sure.

Sounds good! I would like to see it

Yeah, that's a pretty cool idea. Don't think I've seen that done before.

IIRC the Deathwatch core rulebook goes something into the power armour itself and it does seem like the lenses retracting so the helmet could seal off stopping vacuum from killing the marine to prevent the marine from going into that self stasis.

I got one of them jewelery saws - they are great. Best thing since sliced bread. Like the helmet.

Thanks for the compliments on the mugs - Once I start getting the glazing done I will start a thread on it and peeps can make requests.

Great work, love the helmet idea!!

@ weety, I would love to see a thread on those mugs, they look amazing!

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=14700020a

If you blow up the page from the Mantis Warriors, it is JUST big enough to read. Turns out your boys are White Scars successors...

Fifty wrote:http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=14700020a

If you blow up the page from the Mantis Warriors, it is JUST big enough to read. Turns out your boys are White Scars successors...

Lame. I liked the 'unknown gene-seed'

why white scars, didnt see that coming!

Fifty wrote:Turns out your boys are White Scars successors...

Why do GW feel the need to fill plot holes that don't need filling. The revelation of a parent chapter just limits peoples interpretation of events and constricts, to a certain degree, the element of personal inventiveness.

Agreed. Though, had they an army full of awesome conversions and attention to narrative detail, I think I would allow it. More like using "our" armies to fill in the fluff: so a particular waaagh is taking all the tournaments or a couple chapters have it out at a well publicized event, then filling in fluff with that would be cool, imo.

... eghem... excuse me. I'll be on my way now

Well I guess GW likes the idea on elminating those "unknown primarchs" that were the idea for the players to come up with their own ideas, but I guess we threw those pages out of those abundant space marine codexes we keep on getting.

Sounds promising!

So, Gits, it seems you'll have to turn to White Scars tactics now...

Buy lots of bikes & speeders, and scrap off those Dreads & footsloggers... LOL...

hu what white scars? you mean the mongolian warriors? so gw states that japanese have some mongolian organs in them oe thats nasty.

why its nasty becuase mongolian warlords have conquert the entire continent of asia except Japan.

sorry for the off topic rambling

Yggdrasil wrote:So, Gits, it seems you'll have to turn to White Scars tactics now...
Buy lots of bikes & speeders, and scrap off those Dreads & footsloggers... LOL...

It looks like the White Scars link is via an intermediate Chapter called the Marauders. Also, the record of this lineage is only recorded in a series of books that have been repressed and that many doubt is accurate.

Still. You can ignore anything you don't like, or just say that the White Scar link is false. The first Badab War book scrapped most of the RT era Red Scorpion information, including the red/black Angstrom pattern camo. Not that I'm going to stop painting up units with the scheme

When I first started contemplating my Mantis Warriors a good chuck of Forge World's staff were still in diapers... if that. I'll keep them as they are thank you.

Happy new year Gits, and all the best for 2011 to Mrs Gits and the things

You can keep the white scar background and still have your army be the way it is. Just because they are linked to the White scars doesn't mean they have to be exactly the same. The mantis warriors could enjoy the lightening attacks which the white scars pride themselves with, as well as the idea of the hunt, just the mantis warriors go about it differently, using drop pod assaults instead of outflanking bikes. It can still fit into the same concept.

or they had once been very white scar like, but now due to time and their crusade they have changed their tactics in order to save their meager resources. It can't be hard to turn their added fluff around to fit your needs!

+1 with Sageheart.

Plus although the mongol style of warfare was famed for the lightning raids. Genghis was far more versatile than that, he learned siegecraft, use of infantyry etc and often used troops from conquered nation states. This could work for the asian/ non-asian aspect i suppose

I think Gits will not need to change his fluff or style of gameplay at all and nor should he.

Don't get me wrong guys... I'll gladly welcome any fluff, models or interest that Forge World creates... I'm sure it'll generate more interest in the chapter and as a result other Mantis Warrior players will pop up... and if their fluff in neat and I can incorporate it into my own story... that's wonderful! But I don't feel the least bit bound by it. If I can use it I will, if I cant (or don't want to) I won't, and will not apologize for the choice.

As I've said before... the IA books are simply fan dexes... no more official than anything you or I would create (if they weren't you wouldn't have to ask permission of your opponent to use their rules... which is exactly the same as would happen if I made up my own rules). Besides, 40k has always had this nebulous idea of things barely under control or barely understood. In part, I think that's there to give we hobbyists the lee-way to interpret things as suits us best. Smart on the part of GW... I'll honor that by keeping my own vision clear regarding my chapter. But I do look forward to reading the IA and see what neat little things they come up with.

What I do know however... is that my figures will be cooler than anything they come up with. I've got both Blackhand & Pyriel sculps augmenting my marines... that's hard to beat.



And BTW... I finally finished the last of the gene stealers... so it's back to my MW's full-time!!

dantay_xv wrote: Plus although the mongol style of warfare was famed for the lightning raids. Genghis was far more versatile than that, he learned siegecraft, use of infantyry etc and often used troops from conquered nation states. This could work for the asian/ non-asian aspect i suppose

well yes thats right but Genghis made the same mistake twice as he used boats too coonquer japan that wernt build for the sea so his armada drowned he him self wass saved but some years later he tried again failing at the same point and drowned thats why he never conquered Japan. making it one of the few countries never to be conquered.

and Git your absolutly right power to the player

Its was Kublai Khan not Genghis Khan that invaded Japan twice. And although the majority of boats weren't suitable for the crossing large numbers still made it safely. At the first attempt the Mongols even encountered success as the Samurai of the Japanese attempted single combat. The second invasion fleet made the crossing as well but was all but destroyed by a typhoon (no not landspeeder ) off the Takashima coast, thus giving rise to the legend of the Divine Wind or Kamikaze.
Also Kublai didn't drown, some sources suggest that he was even contemplating a third invasion, only to be hindered by his advisers, and Genghis Khan died from either wounds received in battle or from a fall from his horse, historians are not sure which.

The sucessor chapter doesn't really apply in this instance. There is no wite scar official codex that I'm aware of. But for arguement sake.. it more logical that the MW come from a flexable " hit and run" chapter than some of the others.

as it is all fluff, there is nothing to that say the MW wasn't one unknowns of the first 20. just like them, I can make this stuff up as well. ; )

kEEP UP THE GOOD WORK BROTHER!

Well, I plan on reading the IA with great interest, and will also read whatever White Scar rules I can find (they're in the vanilla dex I think). Might well be able to roll that into my existing ideas with minimal disruption. I'm all for co-opting good ideas when I find them... heck, the blog is essentially a giant brain-picking operation. Be foolish to discount the IA ideas without giving them a good read through and some careful thought.

I will finally be back to working on my Mantis Warriors tonight. Thank heavens. Have already begun to pick out the pieces for making Brother Inushi and plan on finally finishing up the sergeant. Keep your fingers crossed... first day back to school for the kids might mean for a rough night of homework.

Um. You don't need to ask permission to use the IA books any more; you havn't for about 7 volumes. They have the 40K Expansion symbol on them now, so they are classed as canon... the last few have even put new items into normal codex lists

Really? That's news to me. In my experience that's certainly not the standard in this part of the U.S. Over here in the tournaments I've played in or had others tell me about... IA are not considered the same as GW rules & require your opponent's or the TO's permission to use... as a result, while you may see Forge World figures, you rarely see IA rules. Case-in-point: Adepticon in Chicago, one of the biggest midwestern events allows one team member out of 4 to use ONE (and only one) IA object (HQ, vehicle, etc) due to the perception that their rules are often poorly thought out and unbalanced. That could change in the future of course... but up 'till now this has been the attitude towards FW rules.

So while in the UK, IA might be considered cannon, it's not thought of that way here in our part of the States.

Lennysmash wrote:Its was Kublai Khan not Genghis Khan that invaded Japan twice. And although the majority of boats weren't suitable for the crossing large numbers still made it safely. At the first attempt the Mongols even encountered success as the Samurai of the Japanese attempted single combat. The second invasion fleet made the crossing as well but was all but destroyed by a typhoon (no not landspeeder ) off the Takashima coast, thus giving rise to the legend of the Divine Wind or Kamikaze.
Also Kublai didn't drown, some sources suggest that he was even contemplating a third invasion, only to be hindered by his advisers, and Genghis Khan died from either wounds received in battle or from a fall from his horse, historians are not sure which.

sorry about the name switching. but i saw this documantry where they found the main boat and all in the Japanese sea thats why they concluded that he drowned.

sotty Git for the hijack back on topic.

i think its very smart of you not too exclude anything it keeps the mind fresh if you first read and think about something than to just say anything

No apologies necessary fatty, I enjoy it when the thread gets it's own legs. As long as the topics discussed are at least obliquely relevant, I'm good!

Well that page on the gw site said they were ambush fighters majority of the time it never mentioned anything about them using bikes as a main force. From what little i know about the mauraders they dont use bikes anymore then other chapters

White Scars dont have a "Codex", but fluff wise are a fast moving bike and Land Speeder heavy chapter. A lot of players actually use the DA codex with the HQ allowing Bikes to be troop choices.

Ive been to some Tournys where IA was allowed, but for the most part its only by permission (at least in my area). Its largely because most players are not familiar with the IA rules, and thus are perceived as being unfair. And to be fair, some of it is (Lusicous Drop Pods) but some sucks (Land Raider Helios).

Just stick with how you want your MW's to be, while they may be of white scar stock, it doesnt mean they must follow the white scars tactics, like a wussy ultramarine.
They can develop their own traits while sticking to Jaghtai's overall (shamanistic) beliefs. THAT is what I am enjoying with this.

Gits started the MW's with a vision of how he perceived them and even with this WS stuff he can stay true to his vision of how he wants them. Not that he should change it anyways.

In Mongol trerms the great leader were given unoits of 10,000 to lead which many did from their horse. However they always relied on scouts who were quite often veterans.... which would quite easily be the tranquility vets.
Also early on when Genghis came to meet the Chin he found newer and better armour than their own, and this got adopted by the cavalry and elite units (TD armour or revered relic armour from great heroes could be used here)
The Chin and some newer conquered city states provided infantry aswell as some cavalry which got trained up by the mongols. (these would be your new recruits bulking out your tacticals and some assault units)
So in some ways the Mongols would be a good fit and the name scheme would also fit.... maybe falchions instead of katana for the more rank and file to show the status of unit leaders and vets who have the katanas??

I have never played a tourney so no comment on the IA stuff.

As a side note CONN IGGULDEN wrote a great trilogy of books based on Temujin (Genghis' true name) Khan from early childhood till his death detailing his major battles, it ialso involves others such as his sister and brothers who were influential throughout his life. It has kinda inspired me to begin a white scars army (the wolves of the plains) if and when
Sorry for the hijack I get my sw's done

Gits, a good example of a successor not following exactly is the Imperial Fists. Both the Crimson Fists, and the Soul Drinkers, are extremely different.

And the Black Templar as well.

I have a mark from that facepalm.
How could I forget the Templars

Brother Inushi is built! Well, sort of. In looking at the figure I realized that I forgot to put the spikey bitz on the arms and legs... will get to that tomorrow. But otherwise he's done!

What'cha think? The samurai sword is, I think, a little small for the figure but it is my best and only option at the moment. it is only painted in (fits in a hole in the hand) and as such could be removed at a later date if a suitable upgrade could be found.

I dunno, I kinda like the size of the sword, though perhaps it would be better suited with an Imperial? I always think the regular swords are just too bulky for any good reason, but this is Space Marines!!! we're dealing with here, where bigger is better. Either way, I like him, besides that his sword arm still just looks a little... unnatural... for the movement of his body. But! I do like the movement look to him, caught midstep going over the rock and firing off at something.

Whatever sword you give him, I think you'll do it right. You have so far. --Kaesar II

nice looking model there. but i have too agree on the sword arm if he tript and fell he would cut himself

Sword size looks good to me, it's just that we're all used to heroic scale stuff which distorts our perception of what's normal...

Japanese swordsmen often used a reverse grip when using their swords one handed. Have you tried it? It might put the focus more on Inushi aiming his plasma pistol (if that's what you're after of course).

Hmmm... I'm thinking too small - looks like an oversized knife - but then I like heroic scale... Is it just the photo or is that basecoat grainy?

I agree with kaeser , the midstep firing pose is great dynamic without being over the top. But yeah maybe using a straighter arm for the sword would have been good, I like the length of the sword though.

Arakasi wrote:Hmmm... I'm thinking too small - looks like an oversized knife - but then I like heroic scale... Is it just the photo or is that basecoat grainy?

It was the grainy base coat that struck me first, looks almost...bobbly...which isn't even a word The sword looks a bit too small, it wouldn't look as small if it were angled away from the marines body however. Other than that he looks great.

Imp. Monkey

Drawing a blank on a decent source of katana type swords, although I'm sure I've seen some recently.
You might keep an eye out for oop Mishima models from the old Warzone game.

Yeah... I didn't notice it before but the primer is a bit dodgy. I'll see if I can't get some better primer and touch it up. Will have to address that during the painting process.

The arm is in the position it is to make the sword "at ready" or cocked. An extended arm is useless with a sword in it. No viable attacks from that position with the exception of a weak thrust. Since only his head and arm are turned to the left I didn't think modeling the arm extended for balance was necessary. If I'd have thought of it, it would have even been more natural to model the weapon resting on his shoulder pad to conserve energy while still being ready to strike.

I actually don't mind the sword being smaller in relation to the figure as a more minimalist approach is very samurai-like. I flipped the sword upside-down to give him a reverse grip as CK suggested. *Really* like the resulting pose. Tip of the sword is off the ground, curve of the blade flows nicely with the action... great suggestion!

Gitsplitta wrote:Yeah... I didn't notice it before but the primer is a bit dodgy. I'll see if I can't get some better primer and touch it up. Will have to address that during the painting process.

The arm is in the position it is to make the sword "at ready" or cocked. An extended arm is useless with a sword in it. No viable attacks from that position with the exception of a weak thrust. Since only his head and arm are turned to the left I didn't think modeling the arm extended for balance was necessary. If I'd have thought of it, it would have even been more natural to model the weapon resting on his shoulder pad to conserve energy while still being ready to strike.

I actually don't mind the sword being smaller in relation to the figure as a more minimalist approach is very samurai-like. I flipped the sword upside-down to give him a reverse grip as CK suggested. *Really* like the resulting pose. Tip of the sword is off the ground, curve of the blade flows nicely with the action... great suggestion!

I does make the sword look bigger...nice job!
When you say the sword is "at ready" or cocked, I immediately thought "SM ballistic knife!"
sorry, had to.
but it does look good. I really like the snipers and venerable dread.

Thanks Shrike! Love you're avatar BTW... the santa hat with the explosion(?) behind it is just so wonderfully incongruous.

He still needs a bit of greenstuffing to fill gaps, etc. I mainly primed him so he'd photograph decently. I will be attempting to paint this guy with the airbrush... so the challenges continue to pile up..

Gitsplitta wrote:Thanks Shrike! Love you're avatar BTW... the santa hat with the explosion(?) behind it is just so wonderfully incongruous.

He still needs a bit of greenstuffing to fill gaps, etc. I mainly primed him so he'd photograph decently. I will be attempting to paint this guy with the airbrush... so the challenges continue to pile up..

It's from the 90's comedy "Hot shots! Part deux" (mainly a spoof of rambo, but make fun of terminator, star wars, wizard of oz, ect.). Watch it. It is hilarious. If you like stupid comedies like monty python films and the marx brother's films, you'll love this. The santa hat's just using MS paint for the seasonal avatar thing.
Anyway, keep us up to date!

I agree the sword looks better in its new position - and that it also reduces/removes the size issue too.

From a tourney perspective that's up to the organisers, most disallow them as the books are expensive and not all players will have experience of the lists/units; or even the ability to counter things like flyers. But... the passage in the books that says you need permission to use the rules is long gone.

Anyway. That's well off topic

The sword position in the second image looks better.

Hey endtrans... thanks. Since I'm not very well traveled as a 40k player I have to keep reminding myself that my local experience might not be "the" 40k experience... I appreciate your clarifications. And your comments are perfectly relevant to the blog, so please feel free.

The White Scar thing (modified a bit) may fit well into what I've come up with (or the other way around, however you see it). I have been carefully hoarding about 15 of the RT era imperial jet bikes that I intend to use as scout bike squads (they're just too small for regular marines) and I already have 5 land speeders... They all fit into my army fluff-wise (hit-and-run, jet engine or anti-grav powered so they can drop down from the sky to attack) so that might be a not to the White Scar origin of the chapter. Even all of my foot sloggers (dreads and infantry) can be deployed in a "lightening strike"... so I think this remains true to a White Scar origin... even though it's been modified by millenia and foundings and intermediate chapters.

Also at the point that I'm modeling them, the chapter has returned from 100 years of "exile" on crusade in hostile territory... which at least in my mind would have accelerated the differentiation of the chapter (militarily at least, not from a genetic perspective of course), so the fact that they are different than an all-bike army but still retain an archaic, bike-like element works for me.

But, I've never pretended to be a Space Marine scholar so what works for me is more a matter of logic and what I like as opposed to what GW has actually laid out as history.

You don't have to delve that much into the White Scars domain to my mind...

Actually, your already existing theme of lightning strikes and orbital assault seems like a more than valid choice for a chapter than is (now) supposed to be of White Scars origin / heirdom / legacy.

And, yes, the sword looks much better downwards.

love the model, the downwards sword is best.

I'm with Yggdrasil in that I don't think the link to the White Scars is actually a problem as it does fit so neatly into your background. It's not as if you're making them some hardcore siege masters or a tank heavy mobile fortress.

Besides which. Would you prefer proper fluff from Forgeworld or even more from C.S Goto?*

As far as the White Scar background goes, they are organised into a more tribal structure, with some renaming of units, and they specialise in hit and run tactics as well as using a lot of attack bikes. They also dislike entombing fallen warriors in dreadnoughts.

As the Mantis warriors aren't a direct founding from the White Scars (at least that's what the teaser image seems to imply), you can safely say that as a crusading chapter (one without a home planet) they would have to adapt to new circumstances and start variants on the hit and run tactics; using stealth and drop pod assaults instead of fast moving biker attacks.

Very little seems to be known about their direct founding chapter, other than their colours (yellow) and their logo of a flaming sword.



* HINT. It's not Goto.

Yeah... I've read Goto.

I'll take Forge World ANY day.

End was right bout them not being directly founded from the scars the mauraders are/were a mostly CC jump infantry chapter if i remember correctly (read it somehwere) only thing i could find though is what their armour looked like which was all yellow and chapter symbol was a sword with a flaming blade...anyways as long as your guys can ambush your good fluff-wise lol

In addition, I don't think we know for how long do the Mantis Warriors exist, but probably for a long time (the first to say "Since the RT era!" gets a free ).

If they were founded a few millennia ago, they've had plenty of time to change everything, in opposition to a chapter that was founded in the end of the 41st millenium.

As the Mantis Warriors now seem to come from the Marauders, who in turn came from the White Scars, they can be huge leaps between those distant parent-chapters...

Only Ultrasmurfs stick closely to their parent chapter AFAIK, there are plenty of examples of successor chapters steering a different course then their parent chapter.

I flipped the sword upside-down to give him a reverse grip as CK suggested. *Really* like the resulting pose. Tip of the sword is off the ground, curve of the blade flows nicely with the action...

I like the sword better in this position as well. It's also fits nicely with the pistol, since it allows for a much more close-in style of fighting then the regular point-up way of holding a sword. Still, this is probably taking stuff a bit too far - the facts that it looks good matters the most

great suggestion!

You're welcome, I'm glad I can add something usfeul to the conversation instead of just 'ooh!' and 'aah'

ooh!
aah!

Inushi ftw!

Definitely like the sword better in the downward position!

really great mini - I vote for upwards

I am going to have to vote for down. Either way you do it Git, he will be using it both ways in the story!

Finally finished the Tranquility Veteran sergeant. Took a bit of fiddling to get the damaged helmet positioned and the grass tufts in the right place and the right size.... but I think this'll do.



And a reminder of where we started...



One more down...
Gits

Ha!

Reverse Camo FTW!!!

Needless to say, awesome...

Have you considered putting the behind his back or angled more towards the back.
a la

Actually I did... (great suggestion), but I didn't have the right arm and I didn't feel up to a full-on dissection and arm rebuilding.

Cant wait to see the others git the sergeant looks great especially the damage on the head/face

There is actually considerable damage to the helm, unfortunately you can't see it from the angle the pictures are taken from. You'll have to trust me on this one.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a better shot, if you zoom in you can see the damage on the nose cone and helmet proper. Sorry for posting multiple shots of the same fig.

it is looking very good! love it. the damage helmet is a great add on!

Ah, the sergeant looks great. I love the attention to detail, like the scarring around the implants

These look really good.

Looks good.

Gits, that sarge came out great! I like the end result of his power fist. Good work!

nice conversion with the sniper!

If there are still any problems on sword size it can be easily answered : They are fit into the MW life with a focus on tradition than a modern fighting implement; which would fit snugly with the whole "crusading army" theme you're got going on.

Like the Tau Bonding Knives, those things are more the scale of Machete's but never really get used, because they are symbolic.
Or the Imperial Japanese in the Second World War. 'The Pacific' and other films immortalized the thought of officers charging with Swords; but really, they were there to denote authority and were also rarely used.

Just my two pence but all the models look great!

My one criticism on the sarge would be the joints. The brown just doesn't look right. If I were in your position then I would paint the joints black, maybe put in some metal to where its been a little damaged. I know there is not sculpted stuff in them but it still looks odd. Even blacking it out would look better... If you like it brown then don't listen to me. Looks good otherwise!

Imp. Monkey

I usually paint the accordioning in the elbows and back of knees black, but I don't think this model had them (at least not in the legs). That's my fault on the right leg as I completely re-built that one and apparently forgot to model in the flexible part of the joint. I could paint a black line on the back of the left knee to signify a clean separation of the plates.

Hmmm... looking really close at the right leg from the back it appears to be broken... I'll have to address that somehow. Uugh.

I don't think any of the RTB01 legs had the articulated joins did they?

Great job there Gits, looks nice

Wow. All I can say is what a thread. I started playing the game in September this year and have only discovered Dakka through trying to find battle reports for tactics on line. Took a look around the P&M figuring people may be in the same boat as me (starting a new army) when I found your blogs. I am simply amazed at what has been achieved across all of your threads Gits. I briefly posted on (I think) Thing 1's thread but am one of the many who has stopped trolling and joined to post here.

I've read all the pages on this blog (it grew two pages while I was reading!) and I feel like I know so many people already on here. The work and co operation that has been inspired here across the globe is something that everyone involved should be proud of. Whether it a debate about Mantis history, armour camo, assault marine wings, guyver like helmets, marine swaps etc.... Just so amazing.

I'll stop now before I go OTT but just to say a big thanks for all the blogs and all the inspiration that it has given. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute usefully at some point and feel like I've added something I have got so much from!

Cheers, Taff

Great Work as usual Gits. Love the reverse camo on the powerfist.

Looking forward to making my Own combi Meltas. I have a bunch of melta bitz coming from CH soon.

@taffiarit: Thank you and welcome! Yeah, it's been a community effort. Couldn't embark upon something like this without a lot of friends helping me out along the way. I'm very happy to welcome you as one of them so feel free to chime in whenever you feel the spirit move you!

@wolfshadow: Well, they're *supposed* to be interchangeable if you use the whole chapterhouse gun, but since I'm being pretty anal about these for Adepticon I'm just gluing them in place.

I ordered just the melta bit. Hoping that they will work out along the top of the standard SM bolter witha bit of glue and some minimal GS work.

To get the joint effect try a very thin single line of black. I used to do that with all my old figures back when I outlind eveything

Love the pose.

How about a commander that has stabbed someone with a mono power sword, but he stabbed as tho someone has tryed to creep up behind him.

First attempt a shading with my airbrush. OK, not great... turned the pressure down too low near the end and got some speckling of the lighter shades. Might try to go over it with a bit lighter shade again to see if I can reduce the speckaling effect.

Ice, sorry to experiment on your figure but we're both up against a hard deadline so I figure I need to take every opportunity I can to figure out how to do this. Did learn some valuable lessons though and it looks good even at close inspection... just doesn't quite survive the close-up camera without the flaws showing.

Next step (after dealing with the speckle) is to hit all the creases with thraka green wash to delineate the plates and dark spaces.

Gits

God I would love to give my marines that spackle before painting, but since you are trying to avoid pitted armor I can see the frustration.

Not sure why this is my first post here, been watching this for some time and yeah, you do good work.

No need to apologize, for soon I will have the Alpha mantis warrior shaded with the airbrush by Gitsplitta marine!

Sweet.

@I-i: Glad you finally posted! I'm totally unaware of the folks who watch this blog until they chime in... so thank you and welcome!

@Ice: Don't worry Ice, it'll look good, I'll make sure of that... but I have to experiment as I go if your teammate is going to get his army done in time!

Here is the marine after lining... I think it helped a lot (thanks vent).



Think that's all for tonight but I'm pretty pleased so far. Tomorrow I'll start the details and we'll see how it shapes up!

Gits

it is looking goood, so this one will be green eh

I need to try zenithal highlighting with my airbrush sometime soon as that looks great and would have saved so much time trying to get my Scorpions to look right! Did it take very long to do the highlighting with the airbrush?

My one criticism is that the lining looks a bit too thick, especially above the scrollwork and down the front on the right shoulder. If you look at the first photo from before the lining you can see where shadows should be falling

Hey Gitz, Happy New Year to you and your Family.

Both the Tranq Sergeant and the marine with the Samuri sword look great man.

I checked out thing 2s nids and there coming along nicely to mate..

jim

@Sage: Yep, this is the color of the normal Mantis Warriors.

@endtrans: I agree with you on the lining, especially noticable on the shoulder pad. I'll take some thinned wash and bring those lines out a little bit to ease the transition into the pad color. It didn't take any time at all... 15 minutes maybe. I'm sure it'll be less once I figure out what I'm doing and get better with the brush.

@jim: Thanks man! Yeah juggling 3 armies is quite a challenge... just glad I got the basics done for the other two so from now on it's just a piece here or there.

I'm sure that the airbrushing technique will speed things up, if nothing else, doing more than 1 base and highlight at once, once you get the hang of it. It wont take a lot longer to do 5 marines than 1.

Looking good.

Is the backpack staying green, or is that going to b painted another color?

Git, never feel bad about posting multiple pictures of an awesome looking mini.

wolfshadow wrote:Is the backpack staying green, or is that going to b painted another color?

I think it's going to stay green. I need to differentiate them from the Salamanders who kind of define "green marine" in 40k & am afraid doing something like black would confuse the issue. I suppose I could do the same kind of purple I have in the shoulder pad (not painted yet... take a look at my MW gallery if you want to see what I'm talking about) or yellow... but I don't want to confuse the figure too much by adding major color elements. My idea is that these guys are supposed to look like traditional, green preying mantises (thus the custom helmets & wings from Blackhand)... so for now they get green backpacks. That's not to say I won't experiment later with special color combos for sergeants, tech marines, characters, etc... but at the moment I'm following the KISS principle.

@Heff: Got it bud, thanks!

Keep it simple stupid. the green looks good, as soon as my IA 10 arrives I'll try and get some photos up for you.

Lining looks great on the helmet! I would've watered it down a tad for the shoulder, but maybe that's just personal preference. Nice job!

I'm still learning how to paint in the lining... I'm usually a "dump it on and let it settle" kind of a wash guy... so the idea of spot-applying my washes is new. Maybe a few pointers from those folks who do this regularly would be helpful?? Please?

Use a fine detail brush! Think of it like blacklining only with a wash instead of paint.

Blacklining?

Painting the gaps black. Eg on a tau you usually get the armour plates separated by a dark colour on the armour plate lines. Essentially doing a very thin line in the shadows or between separate areas, micron pens are often used for this.

I woud say just use a smaller brush and less wash on it, then experiment until it looks right!!

edit: At least, thats my interpretation, i dont pretend to be an expert! Sorry for lecturing you

Got it. I've got 10 "greens" to paint for Adepticon so I think I'll get lots of reps. Granted they're all recycled original plastic beakies... but the paint scheme I'm pioneering here with Ice's MW will be applied to the rest of them... as well as the Vanguard I make with Blackhand's wings. So I'll get a lot of practice.

How soon is adepticon? How much more do you have to complete by then?

Don't get me started....

April 1st.

Need to finish:
2 sternguard (highly converted, tranquility camo)
MoTF (highly converted, tranquility camo)
10 tac marines (thank God Whalemusic360 is building these, green)
Mk-4 Iron Clad (tranquility camo)
3 dop pods (tranquility camo)
2 Mk-1 razorbacks (green)


I'm a bit burnt out on the tranquility pattern so I'm going to get the two razorbacks done next, followed by the Iron Clad. At that point I'll have enough painted that I can start practicing with the army.

Okay, thats a fair bit but you've got time, you can do it Gits!!

The airbrush should make the Razorbacks quick and easy to paint, hand painting tanks sucks. (The pods should also be simple, camo may take a while though i spose)

Jealous that you got the FW 'clad, love that model!

I hope we're going to get a tourney report as well, pretty please!!

There's no way the army would get painted without the airbrush... that's why it's materialized recently in the painting of my kid's necrons and nids & Ice's Mantis Warrior. I'm still trying to work out the bugs so I can do a decent job with it. Once I get into the groove of the camo it actually goes quite quickly... it's all the fiddly crap that goes along with the blending and shading that takes me forever. That's where the airbrush comes in. Now the two sternguard and the MoTF will be done the old fashioned way using wet-blending... but for everything else the airbrush will be used to apply the basic color, shading and any zenithal (sp?) lighting effects that I think I can pull off.

Yes, I will give a full accounting of the event with hopefully some photos to boot.

Looking forward to seeing some airbrushed vehickes Gits.

Airbrushes really shine on the bigger surfaces that a vehicle offers.

I like how your tranquility sergeant is a lefty. There aren't enough south paws in 40k.

have you been able to send the marine for our trade yet!

I cant wait to see your green model done!

My goal is to have squad one done this weekend. I can send it back before the second if you want.

@wolf: Yeah, I like to mix it up... though mostly it's just a matter of what arms I have and what pose I want to try... but still... one of my son's is a southpaw so why not my marine sergeant?

@Sage: actually I have a couple of things to send out... so I'll get yours out too. Just wanted to get a group shot of him with the sergeant before I ship him out to you.

@WM: Yes please... that way I can get a start on the rest of my infantry early on.


And for your entertainment... tonight's progress...



So far, so good. Got a number of the details finished and a number of others on their way. Hand-eye coordination isn't very good tonight so I'm leaving the eyes on the helmet and shoulder pad for tomorrow. The shoulder pad is actually a reddish purple... not red, but for some reason all the camera sees is the red color. I decided to paint the katana as a regular sword rather than a power weapon... I did do the traditional temper line on the though so maybe that's where the real "power" lies. Anyway... just screamed at me to paint it as a normal sword rather than electric blue or some such. I like him. He's really green... but will look more balanced when the base is painted.

Think I'll go work on Thing 2's second zoanthrope... something with no fiddly details at all!

no rush, just came to mind!

that model is looking great, the mantis warrior shoulder pad looks great. what color is the plasma going to be?

I haven't decided... that's one reason it's not painted yet. The core will be blue... I'm thinking either standard metal color or maybe black for the pistol.

He is going to look bulk brilliant, uber-tastic and super-nice. The kindof thing you can spend ages staring at

samwellfrm wrote:I like how your tranquility sergeant is a lefty. There aren't enough south paws in 40k.

QFT! They should bring at least one set of a lefty Marine in their tactical kit, it'd help to add variety...

As for the current PIP, I love how the red / purple shoulder pad stands out, it's really nice!!!

In case you don't have IA10 yet, here's a few more bits of information for you on how they see the Mantis Warriors working. I've only had a brief flick through, but so far it's great.

They were (At the time of the Badab War) from warrior tribes on a death world. The death world background has tempered the White Scar's ferocity, giving them a much more focused approach.

They have the standard organisational structure, but because they lack resources they are constantly fighting under strength; particularly in relation to heavy vehicles. Continuous attrition has led them to concentrate on wargear that fits their tactics and that they can maintain themselves. One of the things they always keep a large number of are Thunderhawks.

The Mantis warrior librarians use their arts to aid ambushes and sowing confusion amongst the enemies. Their special character (Ahazra Redth, chief librarian) swaps Combat Tactics for any units that don't have dedicated transports, or terminator armour for the Infiltratiors USR.

So all in all... this all fits your background nicely. You're going to enjoy the read

Man would it be cool if the FW interpretation flowed naturally into my own. Really looking forward to seeing what they've done now and excited about where it may lead me & my army.

Thanks my friend, I'll put that IA on my "to buy" list!

Looks great. I really love the different shades of green. brilliant. Just give the eyes a gloss coat. that'd look good. Or the old gw black ink would work, it has a nice gloss finish...

Imp. Monkey

Maybe you could try purple, since green and purple are at opposite ends of the color wheel.

EDIT: Realising my lack of bieng specific I was referring to the plasma in the plasma gun.

I don't think he wants him to look like the Hulk.

LOL MasterSlowPoke !!!

I think red is on the opposite of the color wheel from green. Yellow is opposite to purple.

That's a sweet looking marine right there gits. Definitely prefer him with the downwards angled blade, he's going to look uber-boss when finished.

Gitsplitta did you know that at least 300 thousand lurkers are actually on the roof of your house, I only found out when I had the Idea myself.....




Damn. do you know how hard it is to disguise yourself as a small purple monkey and hang onto the wing of a high speed jet without snacks for 18 hours then realising you took the wrong jet and having to float back through space and through the atmosphere directly into your chimney(while on fire ).
Not that I would know

Thanks monkeytroll, no progress today... spent the day working on the kids armies for their game at the FLGS tonight. Made some good progress with those though (pics will be in the appropriate places).

EpicMoose:.... all I can say is that your avatar name suits you perfectly!

LOL!

updated for confusion...
There seem to be two variations on the colour wheel depending on where it is from.

The traditional colour wheel has purple directly opposite yellow. A good resource for picking colours using this scheme is http://colorschemedesigner.com/

On more recent colour radials, purple is opposite green instead. The Yellow/Purple colour combination comes from a Triadic colour scheme, rather than a Complimentary scheme. You can see this explained here and some example sets of colours that work nicely together here

Personally I'd go for the first one as it allows you to build up colour palettes and export them. http://www.colourlovers.com is also a good site to use.

That is really interesting endrands... all of it! Going to bookmark those sites for sure. Never understood the theory of color wheels and those couple of pages really were interesting.

I guess it's purple then! Purple and yellow/gold... Solar Lion should get a laugh out of that! Whatever purple I settle on it'll be the same for the shoulder pad and weaponry. Of course the regular mantis warriors are green, not yellow like the sternguard. But if I use the accented analytic scheme with both green and yellow I come out to exactly the same reddish purple that I'm using right now for the shoulder pads... so perhaps I just lucked into the correct answer on my own.

This thread and another over at BOLS have inspired me to convert a SM "sniper" squad, using plasticard rods as silencers and getting scopes off bits sites.
I'm thinking of making the guns rapid fire, range 36", BS5 and rending., with infiltrate and stealth.

I've never seen that new color wheel. It's very interesting.

shrike wrote:This thread and another over at BOLS have inspired me to convert a SM "sniper" squad, using plasticard rods as silencers and getting scopes off bits sites.
I'm thinking of making the guns rapid fire, range 36", BS5 and rending., with infiltrate and stealth.

Sounds interesting, but they would have to cost a ton of points per model. At least terminator costs.

I'll go post rules on my armie's thread & article:
article (fluff)- http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/User:shrike
thread (comments, rules, army lists and the armie's progression so far.)- http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/334599.page

"I guess it's purple then! Purple and yellow/gold... GITS"

No matter how hard you try .. you cannot escape your past brother!

Speaking of the Mantis warriors, Has anyone gotten the IA 10 book yet? I ordered it on day one. There is a lot of refrences in IA 9 book on the MW. so I'm curious how FW ties it together. And intrested if they did a better job creating a named character than they did with most of the others in the IA 9 book.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
and.. will we be seeing a battle report for thing 1 or 2 on their blogs?

Not yet, but I intend to order one (IA 10 that is).

Thing 1 got a call from a friend so he's off at someone else's house playing 40k, but to the immense grief of Thing 2 who doesn't have any buddies to go pal around with yet. However after much consoling... he and I are setting up for a battle royale as I type. Have already taken army shots, so yes... there wil be a batrep forthcoming.

You might want IA 9 as well as it has more cool things in as well.

rules for boarding actions

Im missing something with the colors going on. I feel for T1 actually, Its kinda a bummer to do something that always requires bringing you little brother along with you.

Wow, Gits has the 'hardship' of playing a game he loves with his kid on a Saturday afternoon. I dunno about you guys, but I can def think of worse ways to spend an afternoon... Like say working a 12 hour shift. :-(

end jelous rant.

I realised the purple thing later on during my shift, but because I go to sleep right after I had no time to edit, thanks for catching me on the purple thing.

WM...ouch! One day your going to need that little brother - like a transplant or something!

Well, Thing 2 and I had a *great* game. Both Brother Inushi and Sage's tranquility vet have officially been part of a Mantis Warrior army now so they can be sent off to their proper owners (when Inushi is finished of course). Funny bit... Sage's plasmagunner fired his gun one (well... 2 shots), it overheated twice, he failed his save. Inushi fired his plasma gun once, it overheated, he MADE his save. That sort of sums up my luck with plasma guns...

Thought you would enjoy this shot. Inushi's first command...

Wow, you can really see hw much you'e upped your game, the new zenital looks rakking sweet!! Care to post a quick how-to, please!?

Plasma weaponry is somewhat of a double-bladed sword at times, but I still like plasma guns when they do get to rapid fire.

Magic the Gathering Reference since I mentioned that:
"What's the problem with a double-blades sword? It's a sword, with two blades."
-Kamahl, Pit Fighter

End strange rant.

Vit: Let me finish him first, then we can talk "how to". I do have all the photos for the Tranquility pattern tutorial, just need to sit down and write it (a daunting task).

Okeydoke, was just a passing queston really, no rush at all.


edit: Forgot to say, its very interesting to see the difference in tone between the old and new paintjobs.

There's a battle report of on my Tyranid blog if anyone's interested... my Mantis Warriors (including Ice's and Sageheart's trade figures) vs. Thing 2's new Tyranids.

He does look sweet. He may not live through his first command, but he looked good doing it. Yes what a nice comparison.

Vivat!

Wow....

All I can say is Wow.... xD

The paint's coming along wonderfully Gits! Really cool to see the custom bits finally getting onto some models!

Also, that airbrush seems to be worth its weight in gold! Any suggestions on what to do just starting out with an airbrush? I think i might be a little afraid of mine (though I finally figured out the regulator so i suppose thats a step in the right direction)

@ Git - I finished that Sgt for you finally Git I'll get it underway hopefully Tuesday. In the mean time here's some shots so you can see how he worked out.






I'll leave the basing to you my friend!

Oh and I like that sword he's a nice looking marine.

I really like the "praying mantis" chainsword idea! Did you come up with it, git?

@Solar: There is a striking difference between the the old and new. Not just in quality of paint job but in color and tone. Fun to see him on the field though.

@Ramos: Thanks my friend. I'm still afraid of mine... but the necrons I did for my eldest are what really got me over the hump. Pick a simple project where you can do a base coat, maybe a lighter base coat over that and a couple of simple highlights (as in straight down from the top). That will get you more comfortable with how the brush feels and works. You can also practice techniques like blending for the zenithal lighting on a simple piece of paper. In any case it really just boils down to time behind the brush. Like anything else, the more you use it, the better you'll get at it... though painting a few figs successfully... even with the simple system discussed above, will give you a lot of confidence.

@Santobell: Very, very nice job on the marine Santobell! Wow! He looks awesome! *applause* Will absolutely find a good home for him! Really nice, thanks!

@shrike: Yeah, guess I did. At least I didn't copy it from someone else, though someone certainly might have thought of it before I did. The version of the mantis arm swords that I'm going to use for my vanguard (which I will begin a test build on as soon as I finish Sgt. Inushi for Ice) has the swords mounted to the underside of the forearm so the really look preying mantis like.

Not sure how much painting time there will be today, but my goal is to finish Sgt. Inushi. Keep your fingers crossed.

@ Git - I found some nice interesting pics online of the new Forgeworld Spaceshark models I know it's not Mantis Warriors but it could mean they intend on making some models/extras for a good chunk of the badab chapters.






Plus this which is just priceless:
Tranquility Spacesharks (yes it's real)


Quite neat I might get some.

You know I'll just have to do one of those as an objective in the original camo...

that terminator (which has it's own thread)- I hope that is the beginning of a FW heresy-era terminator armour set.

love the battle, happy my marine took part, despite theplasma gong crazy hahahaha!
also love that sergeant! looks awesome

To be completely honest I like the tranquility campaign pattern better than what they have in the IA book. Grey and black would probably bore me befor I even finished one squad.

I have been watching this thread since i joined and was and still am amazed at these miniatures bloody awesome dude !

Yeah, you know... just seems right to me that all of my trades actually fight in my army before they're "official" and are sent off. WM's actually saw quite a lot of action before he was finally reassigned. Good to see both these troopers get their feet wet before being shipped out as well... and the fact that every plasma shot overloaded & even Inushi's 3 power sword attacks failed to either hit or wound is just too ironic (I have a reputation as a miserable dice roller).

Speaking of which... here's the man himself... ready for re-deployment. May his last run of bad luck be his last run of bad luck... um... you know what I mean.





@Zasamel: Thanks for your interest Zas, I always appreciate it when a lurker is moved enough to post! Hope my latest entry doesn't disappoint! Welcome!

Awesome, I think it's fair to say that's your best work yet, frakking sweet Gits!! Love the maroony purpley pistol as well, nice to see different gun case colours for a change.

edit: I really need to start looking properly the first time, those gems Yet again, amazing!! (CH pad looking sweet as well)

Nicely done. I love the colors.

great work, the marine is awesome! love it!

Nice going Gits, I much prefer the blade like this compared to before.

Love the shoulder pad, love the healmet. great work!

Inushi turned out great, Gits! The gems and shoulder pad are top notch. Great work.

OMG! He looks awesome. Great job Git! I can't wait to see your whole army painted to that quality.

Hey everyone!

@Vitruvian: Thanks! Yeah... kind of decided to go with gem eyes on both the helmet and shoulder pad. It's a little more passive aggressive than the standard glowing marine eyes which I think fits a predator like a mantis better. Nice thing about the purple housing is that it echoes the pad (which I repainted a bit... looks better now). Probably spent more time on that plasma pistol than any gun I've done in a while... just wanted to get everything right.

@samwellfm: Thank you sir!

@Sage: Thanks my friend!

@Len: Yep, definitely the better call.

@wolf: Thanks wolf!

@Moltar: I'm convinced that a big trick with the gems is to get the gloss coat just right. Add just a smidge of water to make it a little more fluid & put it on thick in one quick go. Then when it dries it acts like a real glass lens and reflects whatever light source is around as a natural highlight.

@Ice: Ahhh, the one opinion that *really* matters. You and me both brother! Do you want me to do some source lighting around the plasma chamber? I think I can do that much without messing it up.

Gits

Whoops! Nearly forgot.

One more pic for fun... to prove you can teach an old dog new tricks... it just takes a long, long time. (about 18 years elapsed between these two figures)

Git you can do whatever you want to do to your marine. Glowing chambers are cool though.

LOL, Thats awsome Gits. I love the 'before and after' pics.

Hrm...

Maybe I hould post one of my original SW in my P&M thread...

Not at your level, by any strech of the imagination, but TBH < I think I'm waaaaay better than I was when I quit. Way more patient now. :-P

OK Ice, I'll give it a try.

@wolf: You should do that! You never know what young goob is reading your blog and thinking that it's cool but way over his head... maybe if they see where you were & where you are now, they may be inspired to keep trying!

Progress
Really is inspiring! Love all the work you've done! Hey i hope your dice rolls improve!
Wish I could join you in reviving iconic chapters but I lost my entire collection to an apartment fire!
Seeing stuff like this reminds me how much I love this hobby and can't give it up (but I Can wait for new codexes and try other armies! lol!)

Thanks Mukkin', very sire to hear about your loss in the fire. That would be terrible.

Well, last pic of Inushi. I tried to give his plasma chamber a glow. I don't like it... just looks like a sloppy paint job to me. I did tweak it a bit at the very end by painting the purple back into it a bit... that helped, but I still don't like it. Oh well...

Eyes are particularly good mate... I've finally got around to basecoating the Vanguard for you, and now I have to get it up to that standard! As for the glow, try a very light drybrush white first, then drybrush your "glow" colour, maybe?

According to the Badab War book 2 they have yellow pouldrons

Traditionally they had green pauldrons with a mantis head encircled in yellow (see my old beakie above). I've changed it with my MW's to reflect the changes in the chapter after their exile and crusade... 100 years AFTER the events of the IA-10 book take place. Don't know why they changed the pad to yellow but I assume they just expanded the roundel (which have fallen out of favor with GW artists) to cover the entire pad.

@Blackhand: You're going to paint up some Mantis Warriors!! Cool! Can't wait to see them!

I'll start assembling and painting my two Razorbacks next, along with beginning the assembly process for the first of my Vanguard (the guys with the winged jump packs and double chainswords).

Dang it Gits. Stop painting gems so good!
I'll never paint my guy's lenses and good as yours

battle Brother Lucifer wrote:Dang it Gits. Stop painting gems so good!
I'll never paint my guy's lenses and good as yours

I usually scrape off my gems so I don't have to try and paint them. lol,

that is so not true.

Git you should definitely paint all the bug eyes like gems. I think it really adds to the bugginess of the amazing helmets that Blackhand created.

IceAngel wrote:

battle Brother Lucifer wrote:Dang it Gits. Stop painting gems so good!
I'll never paint my guy's lenses and good as yours

I usually scrape off my gems so I don't have to try and paint them. lol,

that is so not true.

Git you should definitely paint all the bug eyes like gems. I think it really adds to the bugginess of the amazing helmets that Blackhand created.

Actually it is, seeing as I don't have gloss varnish
It won't stop me from trying though.

Anyway, Gits has much more painting experience than me.

I want to make it clear that when I finally make my vanguard I GET TO KEEP IT !!! MINE, MINE, MINE!!!


So like.... who's going to sculpt me a proper 40k sized katana power sword? Nothing stupid... just a bit bigger so the blade can be painted like a power weapon and with appropriate power-gizmos attached.

Anybody up to the challenge/commission? Pretty sure it's completely safe IP-wise as I've never seen GW do anything of the sort (or I'd be buying it). Actually a set (katana & wakizashi) would be perfect! I'd love to be able to give each of my troopers a wakizashi as part of their standard kit (sheathed like this one)... but I think this came as part of a larger pack of weapons from the supplier, the rest of which I had no need for as they were much too small.

I can give somethin a shot. ill sketch out a couple of schematics and stuff and see from there...
Ill try to get a prototype up this week, though I can be a bit strange about when I do certain things... Its like I gotta be in the mood to work, if ya get what I mean.


Anywho, Dont let me stop anyone else from giving it a shot!

By the way, never mentioned this before, as I have never made much progress...

I am in the process of painting my Lamenters army, which will soon be ready for some photos to be posted. (Tac Squad and Scout Squad almost finished) Following that I'll be doing a Tyrant's Legion, including some Astral Claws, which I'll also be expandingon to make a separate Astartes-only force. I recently decided that all of my leftover marines after that will be Executioners. The only secessionists from the Badab War I won't have will be Mantis Warriors. I might have to paint up one squad, just for a sense of completeness...

@Ramos: Thanks my friend! Can you cast up multiples though? I don't need a million of them but I'd like at least a dozen katanas for sergeants, characters and the like. I'd need lots a wakizashis if I was to put them on each marine... well, at least several dozen... but at the pace I paint it might take me years to get through them.

Yes Fifty... you need to paint some Mantis Warriors... it's a moral imperative!

Fifty wrote:By the way, never mentioned this before, as I have never made much progress...

I am in the process of painting my Lamenters army, which will soon be ready for some photos to be posted. (Tac Squad and Scout Squad almost finished) Following that I'll be doing a Tyrant's Legion, including some Astral Claws, which I'll also be expandingon to make a separate Astartes-only force. I recently decided that all of my leftover marines after that will be Executioners. The only secessionists from the Badab War I won't have will be Mantis Warriors. I might have to paint up one squad, just for a sense of completeness...

What a coincidence...I just painted up a random Lamenter

Haha, had a play with making some weapons this last weekend while I wait for the parts to arrive to continue on with my dusk raiders army/blog.

The 40k scale katana sounds like an awesome idea! I might just have a play with that and see what I come up with! What are you wanting? Comparible size to existing power swords? comparible to chain swords? Do you want the scale of the real katana to be matched to a marine? Heroic (slightly oversized) scale? Just so people can have a play and see what they come back with. It's pretty small so it'd be easy for a heap of us to do it and you pick one

Ya I can cast multiples easy!
I got the stuff already (got a bit of practice), so it shouldn't be too hard to whip em up!

Im assuming youre wanting the sword by itself and not an accompanying arm?
As to the wakazashis, Ill prolly make several variations. Sound good?

Well, I'm hardly the ultimate judge of what makes a good model.

Imagine the katana that is currently in my models hand scaled up by roughly 30%, with a bit deeper (back to edge) blade so that there's a surface to paint effects on. Must have a proper tsuba. Must have a handle that is symmetrically cylindrical so that a simple hole can be drilled into ANY closed fist to accept the sword, making it's utility nearly limitless.

Sword should also have some type of power array. Again remember this is japanese from the samurai period... weaponry is practical, subtle and minimal. No huge, ungainly gadget that ruins the lines of the sword but maybe something that runs from the handle along the lower 1/4 of the back of the blade, so it is easily recognizable as a power weapon.

Extra details that would be nice...

- tsuba has a decorative edge or shape
- lacing pattern on sword handle is correct (or at least gives the indication of a proper lacing pattern).
- make the weapon as a powered naginata (glaive), but with a natural cut off point at the bottom of the pommel so that a person could use it as either a powered glaive or a powered katana (or by cutting the blade and handle shorter a powered wakizashi).

One basic cast with multiple applications and near unlimited flexibility... that's what I'm after.






Automatically Appended Next Post:
Dang it! Just wrote a big post describing what I'm thinking of and it got eaten!.... Hopefully it's just lost in page roll-over so I don't have to re-type.

*grumble*

@Gitspiter Want me to take some photos out of IA 10 for you? they have a thunderhawk transporter in there.

Already accounted for Miss Dee, thank you though.

LOL gotta hate the page rollover effect.

Yep wouldnt let me see em for a bit....thanks to you im contemplating even more of my time here and starting my own blog n seeing where it goes

It's really helpful polari, can't say enough about all the help I've gotten here, not to mention the new friends.

Brief update before bed... Other than finishing the basing (rebasing, sorry Ice... dropped it) on the cool marine I got from Ice for the GMS, I assembled the basic hulls for the two razorbacks and primed them green with the Army Painter green spray primer. This is a little darker that the green I've chosen for my troops and the doors and hatches of the vehicles. I think it will serve as a good background color for the zenithal lighting techniques I'll be attempting on the rest of the model. Not worth a pic though.

There's a thread on here about making swords that includes loads of links to places that sell 28mm katanas.

As for the IA10 yellow pauldrons I would imagine that it's exactly as you said; they just expanded out the yellow dot. It does look rather nice, but it comes back to the old "it's your army" thing

Thanks endtrans! I'll check it out!

I'm reading through the IA Mantis Warriors stuff. I must admit... so far I love what I'm reading and seeing. Not that they need my approval... but I think they've got it. And best if all I think it works really well with what I've come up with.

Happy Gitsplitta... even in the fluff they suggest that there's a lot of variation and individuality within the chapter and a lot of customization... so I think my "verson" can be accepted as a part of the milieu that makes up the chapter.

The Badab War has always been my favourite W40K fluff, and I am so happy that IA9 and IA10 have been done so well, and with such feeling for the original source material from "back in the day". I think my favourite is that an old article in WD called "Rampaging Rhinos" back around WD102 or 103, when Rhinos were first ever released made a very, very brief reference to Rhinos being loaded up with nerve gas, or somesuch and being used as WMDs in the Badab War, and it appears as a mission in IA9! THAT is attention to detail. Alan Bligh really "gets" the Badab War, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Yeah, a non-chaos instigated, politically based, space marine rebellion is just too juicy! That's what captivated me all those years ago.

Glad FW did such a nice job with it, more than I could have hoped for.

Gitsplitta wrote:Well, I'm hardly the ultimate judge of what makes a good model.

Imagine the katana that is currently in my models hand scaled up by roughly 30%, with a bit deeper (back to edge) blade so that there's a surface to paint effects on. Must have a proper tsuba. Must have a handle that is symmetrically cylindrical so that a simple hole can be drilled into ANY closed fist to accept the sword, making it's utility nearly limitless.

Sword should also have some type of power array. Again remember this is japanese from the samurai period... weaponry is practical, subtle and minimal. No huge, ungainly gadget that ruins the lines of the sword but maybe something that runs from the handle along the lower 1/4 of the back of the blade, so it is easily recognizable as a power weapon.

Extra details that would be nice...

- tsuba has a decorative edge or shape
- lacing pattern on sword handle is correct (or at least gives the indication of a proper lacing pattern).
- make the weapon as a powered naginata (glaive), but with a natural cut off point at the bottom of the pommel so that a person could use it as either a powered glaive or a powered katana (or by cutting the blade and handle shorter a powered wakizashi).

One basic cast with multiple applications and near unlimited flexibility... that's what I'm after.

Small issue with that.. you'd lose a lot of the details on the tsuka when you put it in the hand anyway unless you want extra long handles. Tsuba will be .. very very small so shaping is probably the best option. Any preference? Rounded type? Angular?
The whole naginata cut down idea (while awesome) isnt functional.. nagi's are never as long as katana and are more like a wakizashi on a stick.. having said that you could do a single wak/nagi spear and then katana's separately.
Actually while I'm being overly and needlessly picky about something that should be relatively simple.. what are you wanting to have in terms of the hamon? Wider for a larger cutting surface? Or thinner for more effects room on the blade?

Interesting... what if the "power" was IN the hamon? (or at least depicted there... it would be very appropriate.

(for those of you not familiar with the terminology, the hamon is the tempering line that I depicted on my sword by washing the edge of the blade unevenly)

I've seen period depictions of naginata that had blades comparable to a katana, at least they appeared so, but I do not pretend to be an expert in Japanese weaponry. I simply thought it would be smart use of someone's time to produce a single item that could be used as either a sword or a glaive. Indeed, the sword on Inushi there was from just such a modeled weapon... just one that's a bit too small for 40k.

Saw this on the net Git and thought of you

Possibly for a naginata you can use the weapon from vulcan or at least the shaft n some green stuff

Sweet Santobel! Like it!

Well polari, we'll see. I'm far from panic mode. I have options & I'm going to be totally preoccupied until after Adepticon in April, so I'm not too worried. A solution will present itself in good time.


Progress today:

- got the base coat painted on the body and track housings on both razorbacks.
- began painting the "shade" color for the zenithal lighting technique. Got the body done, will work on the track housings tomorrow.
- will need to do a bunch of masking, but when I get the highlight color done and blended, I'll assemble the body of each vehicle and get a photo up. By that time I'll be feeling that I've accomplished something.

So far, so good. Still getting used to my brush and have ordered a smaller needle which I think would help with the blending... but since it's back-ordered & not likely to get here any time soon I'll just have to make due. Found a series of youtube vids that do a good job in explaining the technique, so at least I know what I'm shooting for.

Was just a thought since its already to scale and textured no need to panic lol

Monkeh wrote:

Gitsplitta wrote:Well, I'm hardly the ultimate judge of what makes a good model.

Imagine the katana that is currently in my models hand scaled up by roughly 30%, with a bit deeper (back to edge) blade so that there's a surface to paint effects on. Must have a proper tsuba. Must have a handle that is symmetrically cylindrical so that a simple hole can be drilled into ANY closed fist to accept the sword, making it's utility nearly limitless.

Sword should also have some type of power array. Again remember this is japanese from the samurai period... weaponry is practical, subtle and minimal. No huge, ungainly gadget that ruins the lines of the sword but maybe something that runs from the handle along the lower 1/4 of the back of the blade, so it is easily recognizable as a power weapon.

Extra details that would be nice...

- tsuba has a decorative edge or shape
- lacing pattern on sword handle is correct (or at least gives the indication of a proper lacing pattern).
- make the weapon as a powered naginata (glaive), but with a natural cut off point at the bottom of the pommel so that a person could use it as either a powered glaive or a powered katana (or by cutting the blade and handle shorter a powered wakizashi).

One basic cast with multiple applications and near unlimited flexibility... that's what I'm after.

Small issue with that.. you'd lose a lot of the details on the tsuka when you put it in the hand anyway unless you want extra long handles. Tsuba will be .. very very small so shaping is probably the best option. Any preference? Rounded type? Angular?
The whole naginata cut down idea (while awesome) isnt functional.. nagi's are never as long as katana and are more like a wakizashi on a stick.. having said that you could do a single wak/nagi spear and then katana's separately.
Actually while I'm being overly and needlessly picky about something that should be relatively simple.. what are you wanting to have in terms of the hamon? Wider for a larger cutting surface? Or thinner for more effects room on the blade?

the tsuba isnt really nececary (i think its writen like this) its more of a decoration on the real swords than anything else.
the blade on the naginata is infact a katana sized blade but there are a lot of designs so you an go for pretty much anything.
and Git why dont you try the Dark Elf spearmen box? from there spears you can make naginatas easly and if you would cut them down you will have you katana. i think you will need too take your time for it but it could be usefull

Monkeh wrote:Small issue with that.. you'd lose a lot of the details on the tsuka when you put it in the hand anyway unless you want extra long handles. Tsuba will be .. very very small so shaping is probably the best option. Any preference? Rounded type? Angular?

I never answered this question... I've always been fond of the 4-lobed design myself, but in the end as long as there IS a tsuba I would be satisfield.

I'm not certain that I agree that a tsuba is only decorative. Having trained with a variety of swords, including katanas in the past, without it your hands would likely be incapacitated by the first or second block as your opponent's blade slid down your blade into your hands. To my knowledge, every sword ever made had some kind of guard above the hands, there's good reason for that.

well the tsuba would be cut of the moment the blade hits it.
we traine by the house of Hatsumi which is a ninja house by nature. And dont forget the hand guards you normaly wear

fatty wrote:well the tsuba would be cut of the moment the blade hits it.
we traine by the house of Hatsumi which is a ninja house by nature. And dont forget the hand guards you normaly wear

Unless it was made of a very strong material.
Besides, this is the year 40k. A power sword would cut the guards off after the first clash, but all power swords still have them...
I'd imagine katanas would still have them as well.

It wouldn't need to be made of strong metal... 3/8" brass would probably muck up a sword cut easily enough, especially if you are deflecting the stroke rather than just "catching" it, and a soft metal would absorb the force of the stroke without failing like a harder metal would. Remember that a katana is a relatively light weapon... lots of speed but less mass. It's cutting power is tremendous but chopping power not-so-much. You don't kill people with katana-like weapons by bludgeoning... you do it by surgical strikes to precise, vulnerable areas. Bludgeoning weapons are of an entirely different sort... glorious in their own way if perhaps less elegant on the surface. But that's my personal bias showing through.

fatty wrote:well the tsuba would be cut of the moment the blade hits it.
we traine by the house of Hatsumi which is a ninja house by nature. And dont forget the hand guards you normaly wear

I't not until after 1600 (according to Wikipedia anyway) that the tsuba become more decorative than functional. Whether the tsuba was a functioning part of your defense would not only dictate your style of combat and your other gear as you suggest... but could well indicate whether your sword was actually a functional tool or a decorative gew-gaw. I can't imagine even in period that someone would invest a large sum into a decorative golden piece of sword hardware that would get hacked through the first time it was used... IF the intent was to use the sword with any regularity. Thus a purely decorative tsuba would suggest to me a sword that was either not really intended for use in combat, or perhaps a sword made for a specific fighting style that had been developed to compensate for the absence of a functional guard at the top of the grip. But if that's the case, why have a tsuba at all?

But... that's all rather esoteric and probably not if interest to anyone save you and I. For the nonce then... MY favored *interpretation* would be for a weapon with a functional guard at the top of the grip... preferably lobed but not necessarily so.

-----


My greater concern at the moment is less to do with the finer points of power katana modeling (though that's fun to discuss) and more along the lines of... do I give my razorback tac squad sergeants a power weapon (the current plan) or are they better off with some sort of combi-weapon and save the extra points for other parts of my army & just hope to God I can keep them out of assaults? Arming them with power fists is not an option as I don't have the points... but I could use the extra savings from the power weapons to do some useful things in my otherwise skin-and-bones 1000 pt army.

This is for Adepticon so I'll be teamed up with a partner that will probably be more assaulty than I am... which isn't hard as I have almost no assault capability in my existing build. Since these squads are for objective sitting or quarter holding I'm not sure where to go with them. They're certainly not for front line assault duty... but if their Razors get popped & they get assaulted they're pretty defenseless (or... offenseless as the case may be) if I remove their power swords.

Any thoughts?

After my last 6 games with my Razorback heavy list I have to say...drop those suckers!

A five man squad is just too small to survive heavy or even medium fire when they disembark, the R'back will get popped far too often and, this is just me, its often confusing in battle to decide what role you want to put the Razorback to. Is it a transport or a tankhunter ( I ran t/l Lascannons) Again it is probably my lack of experience with marines but I have ended up going with 10 man squads in rhinos to give the squads enough bodies to survive long enough to get into battle, otherwise a powerfist or power weapon is just a waste of points.

This is probably all pointless as you will be camping on objectives but at AV11 Razorbacks will get popped and often those 5 man squads are going to be sitting out in the open.

Just my (inexperienced) 2 cents though

My problem with giving one guy in a 5 man squad a power weapon is that its not that scary. You think an ork boy squad is going to care if you kill one or two? Or a assaulty squad with higher Initative (Nids, DE,etc)? Even with a power weapon, they are kinda worthless in CC.

The trick (at least what I do) with RBs is to drop of the men inside to hold a further back objective (in your deployment zone) and the use it as a sucky-but-cheap predator. It will get looked over for better targets once it has no troops inside or ability to capture an objective, but still be able to pop vehicles (or whatever) rather well.

You know ... you gonna make Gits re-do his list if you keep posting.. >;O

I loved using my Razorback with my Space wolves. A razorback is my favorite way to get a TL Lascannon to a good vantage point and drop off some Long Fangs sp they can make use of the vehicle itself for cover while they take to a better position to shoot from. Yes, a Razorback has a limited troop capacity, but the choices of weaponry you get for it make up for that lack of 4 marines, but for the benefit of a Lascannon or Assault Cannon, makes it slightly more worth the points I spent on it verus just taking a rhino, which only gets that storm bolter.

YMMV

Hmmm... well, mine have got the lascannon and TL plasmas (or whatever). I wasn't thinking about it's application for boys... more as anti-terminator defense late in the game. The park, sit & plink w/ their las cannons. If the late game teleporting termies show up... you have the LC and plasma fire on top of whatever bolter fire there is, plus the 3 power sword attacks at initiative before the temies get their attacks, or at least at the same time.

I am, for better or worse... "married" to the razorbacks. So my only real wiggle room is in equipping the two sergeants.

So best case for your squad Vs a 5 man termi squad with no options is, assuming they have no better shots or mishap:
Termi DS
Fire 5 SB on your 5 marines. 5 hits, 2.5 wounds, .7 kills (we'll say one)
You move.
Razorback fires. LC hits .5, wounds .41, kills .27ish
TLPG in rapid fire range hits 1.5, wounds 1.25, kills .83ish (go with 1 from the RB)
4 bolt pistols fire. 2 hit, 1 wound, .2 kills (going with none)
Assault, your sgt (with PS) goes, 4 attacks on the charge. 2 hit, 1 wound, .67 kills
3 tac marines, 2 attacks each on charge. 3 hit, 1.5 wound, .25 wound. So lets say one total in CC
the three remaining termis hit back with 6 PF attacks, 3 hit, 2.5 wounds, 2.5 kills.

If the RB was not in Rapid fire range, your killing power is gone, and the squad gets whipped out.

Dont feel like going a 2nd round, but I'd guess your tac sqaud eats it.

I know not tactics page, but relevant in this case.

It's all up to personal choice really. I always run power weapons on my sarges when I have the points. Sometimes they aren't used, sometimes they are, but as soon as I don't have one I know I will miss it. I'm not a huge fan of combi weapons unless there is a reason or a specific task in mind for the squad.

From a modelling perspective I think a power weapon really helps them to stand out as a leader. On top of that they are fun to paint. And perhaps more importantly you have a deadline and I suspect a power weapon will be quicker than a combi.

Taff

On the whole tsuba thing, hatsumi school is a primarily ninjutsu school which deals in a completely different type of katana (ninja sword, straighter typically with either a much larger tsuba or none at all). All through my kobudo and kenjutsu training we were taught that tsuba's were typically made of a metal composite in some manner and were in use for glancing slashes and as gits pointed out defense based on parrying. They are definately functional and totally awesome aesthetically.. just to be sure.. the bulb design you mention, you mean something similar to this sunflower style guard Gits?

Awsome idea on the power hamon.. if the hamon is much wider then you can have the power arcs/effects painted in there rather than the body of the blade, great idea!


No tanks in my current army but my preference is definately the power weapon. As you mentioned, vs termy's or even tying up vehicles it's invaluable to reduce casualties or maybe even take some targets down with it. If it's an otherwise generic tac squad then the power weapon will help if being assaulted by non-squishy targets.. or even mega orks/warboss. That way even if the tank get's popped or you need to dash ahead for more targets you can just plant them in cover and they can protect themselves from assaults.

I play orks so I cant offer much in the way of tactics or equipment, but I, too, really like Razorbacks. There's just something in the design that just appeals to me.


I have been working on plans for katanas, and I think I have a good design. Just need to implement it.

The tsuba is one part i had a question or two on-
Do you want it simple (similar to most Power swords) or with a bit more to it? I sketched up a crude design for a mantis-head tsuba, and another with an imperial eagle theme.
I could probably rig up some sort of kit that would give a choice of tsuba(s?), would you want that?

They would be of a similar (if not Identical) scale to the wakazashi, so those would also potentially have the ability for tsuba-swapping.

As for naginata, I think a thin tube (brass or plastic) would be all you would need to turn a wakazashi/katana into a naginata with little difficulty. All that would be required after assembling the tube and sword is a counterweight of some type on the other end, depending on what sort of look you would want for that.

Ah yes, and would you want sheathes (unsure of term) for the power-katana? Or even some form of kit to convert the empty sheathes into sheathed blades?

I guess I would assume that the guys were in the razorback to begin with, got a turn of shooting before the assault which would kill the razorback (that is *if* I sat there an took the assault... assuming i need the objective I would), then shot & charged the following turn. That would change the equation as there would be one less terminator and one more marine at the beginning of the man-to-man assault.

I'm not suggesting it's a magic bullet... just that it has some capabilities.

Seriously, try the Lego guy Katana's. Would be prefect heroic scale.

@taff: I appreciate your insights... and yes, a power weapon is simpler... though I'm already up to my neck in combi-weapons with my sternguard so what's two more??

Monkeh wrote:On the whole tsuba thing, hatsumi school is a primarily ninjutsu school which deals in a completely different type of katana (ninja sword, straighter typically with either a much larger tsuba or none at all). All through my kobudo and kenjutsu training we were taught that tsuba's were typically made of a metal composite in some manner and were in use for glancing slashes and as gits pointed out defense based on parrying. They are definately functional and totally awesome aesthetically.. just to be sure.. the bulb design you mention, you mean something similar to this sunflower style guard Gits?

Yeah, that's the one!

Awsome idea on the power hamon.. if the hamon is much wider then you can have the power arcs/effects painted in there rather than the body of the blade, great idea!

I just had this image of the harmon seething and pulsing with energy... the sword itself would be traditional... but the "power" would be concentrated in the tempered edge (makes sense).

No tanks in my current army but my preference is definately the power weapon. As you mentioned, vs termy's or even tying up vehicles it's invaluable to reduce casualties or maybe even take some targets down with it. If it's an otherwise generic tac squad then the power weapon will help if being assaulted by non-squishy targets.. or even mega orks/warboss. That way even if the tank get's popped or you need to dash ahead for more targets you can just plant them in cover and they can protect themselves from assaults.

That was my idea... but I always like to question my assumptions to see if someone has a better idea.

Ramos Asura wrote:I have been working on plans for katanas, and I think I have a good design. Just need to implement it.

The tsuba is one part i had a question or two on-
Do you want it simple (similar to most Power swords) or with a bit more to it? I sketched up a crude design for a mantis-head tsuba, and another with an imperial eagle theme.
I could probably rig up some sort of kit that would give a choice of tsuba(s?), would you want that?

They would be of a similar (if not Identical) scale to the wakazashi, so those would also potentially have the ability for tsuba-swapping.

I think my idea is to keep things rather minimalist. A mantis head would be cool, but I think would get lost in translation. If you want to be creative, look at some traditional tsuba designs and make 3 or 4 simple shapes that can be swapped around so that each sword can be customized to it's owner.

As for naginata, I think a thin tube (brass or plastic) would be all you would need to turn a wakazashi/katana into a naginata with little difficulty. All that would be required after assembling the tube and sword is a counterweight of some type on the other end, depending on what sort of look you would want for that.

Good idea... add the tube, cut the blade down a bit so it's a little shorter, pommel and a bit of GS work and you're there! while I wouldn't want to make dozens of them for special characters or sergeants the extra attention would make each one unique and special.

Ah yes, and would you want sheathes (unsure of term) for the power-katana? Or even some form of kit to convert the empty sheathes into sheathed blades?

I think the power-katana should be unsheathed. It's the side arm wakizashi that I'd like to have sheathed so they can wear it (like Inushi does).

Gitsplitta wrote:I guess I would assume that the guys were in the razorback to begin with, got a turn of shooting before the assault which would kill the razorback (that is *if* I sat there an took the assault... assuming i need the objective I would), then shot & charged the following turn. That would change the equation as there would be one less terminator and one more marine at the beginning of the man-to-man assault.

I'm not suggesting it's a magic bullet... just that it has some capabilities.

Wouldn't it be the same, just longer and the RB dies?
Termi DS
Shoot RB (would DS at rear armor facing) Hit 5, glance 1, random result
RB shoots at termis (maybe) kills 1
4 shoot and assault RB, kill it.
5 marines assault 4 termis, still kill just 1 and loose 3 marines (likely)

Or are you thinking
termis DS
blah blah
Marines get out, hoping they are close enough to assault.
All shoot
Rines assault
1 more rine, same termis, maybe 1 more termi dead.
This would work if they were close enough.

Or if termis have a AC or CML, the chances of it surviving are lower.
Then no RB shots, no termi killed by shots, 5 v 5. Bad news for tac squad.

Yeah... well... so maybe not. Anyway, I'm committed so the point is moot. Will just make the best out of what I've got.

I love reading the talk you guys have been having on Tsuba, unluckily I know little of sword fighting outside of foil fencing which i guess some may say is more of a sport. In fencing the guard is very important not just for protecting your hand but also for a variety of moves which uses the guard to push enemy blades away so you can open up their chest and get the stab. Those are more complex moves.

I would also never give PW to any unit save assault heavy units, even then it would just be to a few models. I would go with PF, or combi-meltas/flamers. just my two cents. I like 5 man units in my lists but mostly since i play jump pack DoA list which needs lots of small units. In other SM lists I would have some large units and a few combat squads so that i can get some other static ML units for long range support and a few small units to support the large units.

Some WIP shots of the razorbacks. I don't care what anyone says... they represent a monumental step forward in my painting ability. Airbrush is getting more and more comfortable and my control is improving greatly. Tried the zenithal lighting effect on the rear hatch and it worked beautifully (though you can't really see all the angles from these shots). In future I think I need to start darker with my shading, but all-in-all I'm pretty happy. Tomorrow more hatches & maybe a start on the side doors.





Just couldn't quite quit... did some hatches and doors...

Wow!

Lookin' spectacular Gits!

Gitsplitta wrote:Some WIP shots of the razorbacks. I don't care what anyone says... they represent a monumental step forward in my painting ability. Airbrush is getting more and more comfortable and my control is improving greatly.

Spot on, you seem to be made for airbrushing! Excellent job, excellent blends, vibrant but appropriate coloring... I am getting an airbrush bug... been watching Lbursley vids and dreaming of a mini that wont take me 20+ hours to paint lol

Wow, very vibrant colours and nice contrasts. Good work!

Really nice bro, you definitely are getting the hang of that airbrush!

Thanks guys... it was fun... I wouldn't say "fast" but it got results I could never have attained otherwise. They're kind of a mish-mosh between true zenithal technique and just a dark to light gradient as I was experimenting as I went & the old rhino is a kind of complicated critter. I'm not sure whether to do the front if the other rhino with the two doors or the other big hatch. I'll paint both up and we'll see how they look. I'll probably do the smokestacks after that & finally to two turrets. Still a long way to go but I fee that I'm making good progress & that I'm learning a lot of new skills as I move forward.

Rather than the plastic hand rails (which always broke) I'm going to make mine out of brass wire. I'm also thinking about doing the Mantis Warrior chapter symbol on the side doors since they're nice and round. I'm still debating the merits and methods of that and it will probably be about the last thing I do for the tank.

The video series that I've found most helpful on youtube are done by ScaleModelMedic. One is painting an Imperial Tank and the other is using zenithal effects on a WW II Panzer. Of the two, I actually think the Panzer series is more useful though the 40k one is good as well.

Looks very nice Gits, i can already see an improvement in airbrush technique over Inushi.

If i may ask, what airbush ands compressor do you have? I've used our clubs one but have been pondering upgrading to a better quality airbrush that can do more than basecoat. Thanks. (I was looking at Iwata HP-C plus or Iwata Eclipse HP-CS)

I have a Paache Talon with the standard 0.038 needle, though I just ordered a 0.025 to help me with the small stuff (like painting marines). It only has a top cup/gravity feed... but I couldn't see painting more figures than that coup could hold paint at any one time, and I like to have my fingers forward on the brush & I thought a siphon feed would get in the way.

I got a good quality hobby compressor of the type you often see advertised with the aribrushes, but it's used and is having some issues. So I got frustrated last night and just hooked up the airbrush to an old air compressor out of my garage. Noisy as hell but it has a 3 gal tank so I run it for about 3 minutes, then shut it off and I'm good for probably 15-30 minutes of spraying. I'm actually thinking of hitting a couple of hardware stores over lunch and looking for a newer model... my poor garage tank has seen a lot of abuse. They're about 1/3 the price (or less) of the fancy airbrush compressors, have much larger tanks so you need to run them less frequently, and at least based on my experience last night... work perfectly well. And I do think the stream of air coming from the tank is a bit more steady than from my tankless compressor, even though my tankless model didn't have any trouble providing me with constant pressure. I haven't had any issues dialing the tank down to 10-20 psi & since my brush is made to run at 20-50 there's no issue there (it appears to work pretty well at 10-15 psi).

The big "epiphany" that occurred last night as I finally starting developing the muscle memory necessary to manipulate the 2-way valve in a way that gave me just enough air and just enough paint so as not completely hose down the figure, allowing me to make the gradients. It's been an interesting learning process and I do believe the "hose down" practice I got with the Necrons was instrumental in my becoming "friends" with my airbrush and getting a feel for it. Once you get the hang of it, it's amazing how precise the airbrush can be. I started out masking everything, and ended up only masking those things getting the zenithal effect (which is pretty much necessary). It's scary to think about what could be done with a needle that is almost half the size of the current one.

I must admit to being completely obsessed with my new-found toy now that I'm starting to get the hang of it. It's very hard to concentrate for the rest of the day as my mind is preoccupied with whatever the next step is or how I'm going to accomplish it. The three drop pods I have to do have gotten a lot less intimidating though... that's a good thing.

They still suck to put together, dont worry.

Yeah... but I bought 4 already put together. No insides (have the parts, just not installed)... but since they're going to be for dreads that won't matter. *snap*

And I still don't understand how 67% = B. Must be Chicago Public School System math or something...

Thanks Gits, i'll have to do a bit more looking yet!

Gitsplitta wrote:And I still don't understand how 67% = B. Must be Chicago Public School System math or something...

Sheesh... and I thoght a 75%=B was exciting when I found it (ah blessed grading curves).... I wanna class with THAT grading scale xD



Great looking Razorback, Gits. The only area I find kinda weird is that back hatch- Its brighter in the "shadows" than at the top.... Though to be honest Ive no clue how else to paint it.

For a compressor, I can recommend (at least for the time being) the Paasche D500SR. It ran me 125 or so, but came with the regulator and trap. Also its ridiculously quiet- my computer is even louder! Only thing I could wish for is a holding tank, but thus far its never had a problem giving me 20 PSI constantly.
Though for sheer value, the hardware compressor will prolly be far cheaper, just louder. I think you need to make sure you have an oil filter or something if you use those in addition to the water trap. I could be wrong- just going off of vague memory.

Well, the theory there I think is that you have more light reflecting (towards the viewer) off the bottom of the plate than the top. It's kind of an optical illusion but I have seen photographs of real vehicles where you can see it. Really though, it's a method for accentuating the individual panels and that trapezoidal hatch was just too perfectly shaped not to try it out!

So that back hatch was just experimenting with the technique as much as anything. I will probably go back in and decrease the shade of the highlight so it's not so much lighter... imagine some light coming in from behind the overhang of the tank and just catching that ramp edge a bit...

I see, I see.... Iiiinteresting. Im lookin forward to this.

woah that airbrushing is awesome! great job!

Thanks Grundz!

In the U.S., Sears carries some very nice little 2-3 gallon, oil free compressors for under $100.00, and they're Craftsman so the warranty is outstanding. I just picked a nice little one up with nailer for only $80. Since I own a house the nail gun is a nice little addition and the compressor itself is more than capable of handling airbrush duty. Looking forward to firing it up tonight & giving it it's trial run!

Monkeh wrote:On the whole tsuba thing, hatsumi school is a primarily ninjutsu school which deals in a completely different type of katana (ninja sword, straighter typically with either a much larger tsuba or none at all). All through my kobudo and kenjutsu

well most swords lack a tsuba (my boken has one). and Kobudo and Kenjutsu are art forms made after the 1600 bujinkan (which the school of hatsumi teaches) consists of 10 schools of which 3 are ninjitsu schools. the famely of hatsumi is a ninjitsu famely (there is the difference). the sword you mean is a ninjato. a sword the size of a wakasashi in the sjajha of a katana. the extra space is used too store sand , dust, kajana pepper powder or poison.

Git i hope you dont mind the pointless discusions if you do than please say so and i will stop.

i love your stuff

Naah fatty, that's OK... it's sort of relevant, and entertaining for the OP so that makes it relevant. Just keep the discussions civil so we don't start a row over minutia.

Way to butter me up by-the-way.... LOL!

razorback looking great!

The Razorback is looking superb. you've really got the transitions spot on.

That is excellent.
Ooh! aah!

If I were you, I would adorn this with mantis warriors symbols and purity seals, then make it transport either Inushi or your HQ.

Thanks guys!
Inushi is going to Ice Angel, so he'll have to bum his own ride.

I'm trying to figure out how to do 3-D chapter symbols for it, either GS or plasticard... my current vote is plasticard. I will give it purity seals & litany banners as well wire hand rails and antennae. Might do some weathering eventually, but I have a lot to do for the tournament so I may put that off until such time as the entire army is painted up.

There will be progress tonight of some sort... the other doors, maybe even the basic shading on the side doors and beginning work on the turrets. I'm going to try and pin the hatches on the gunners turrets so they can be opened or closed, but we'll have to see about that.

One of Les' first videos on youtube was how to make 3d insignia with an oven baked clay. I'll grab the link for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inwholv3UYY

Nice work on the airbrushing Gits! I'm following closely as I plan to get one in the not too distant future, I'm glad to see you're having some great results! Can't wait to see your next brushed marine.

Fatty - Most boken lack a tsuba aside from the occasional one. Most swords definately do not. The only exception to the standard katana in Japanese swordsmanship is the cane sword.. which again isnt overly traditional.
Please keep in mind the ninjato isnt officially an actual weapon, it was popularised by movies and there is virtually no historical evidence of it's use. The only proponent of the sword actually existing is Dr. Hatsumi and the bujinkan school of ninjutsu arts. Not only that, it's most common feature was an oversized square tsuba, followed by it's straight blade.

Kenjutsu is simply the study of Japanese swordplay (not necassaarily katana's, this also includes but is not limited to juijitsu used at the time for unarmed combat) and predates the ninjutsu arts as well as the hatsumi family. But you are correct that in it's most common interpretation (as an art in and of itself) has only been formalised in the last couple of hundred years and as such the ninjutsu schools predate the official art but in that sense the 'ninjutsu' practiced today as an art is extremely recent in adaptation. Traditional ninjutsu weaponry (around the period of formation under the togakureryu in the early 1000's and onwards until the advent of the katana and subsequently the adapted 'ninja sword' (which is still a smaller katana slightly larger than a wak) in the 14th century) were little more than improvised weaponry, adapted odachi and nodachi and chinese weaponry brought over by the monks at the time.

History lesson out of the way (I obviously love discussion, both lengthy and pointless), both the original katana's as well as modern interpretations are well known for using tsuba. It's possible in practice that given your background in your country they're less common however.. as far as the Japanese are concerned they're integral parts of the sword.