I have been a long time collector of Grymn (space Dwarfs available from: http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk ) - see my album here:

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/

...and have recently bought some Pig Iron heads to play with. Seeing as I have so many Grymn sitting around, I thought I'd see where things would go and started putting together a few new style troops. I normally collect Grymn in line with Codex Imperial Guard...but for the moment, I am just seeing where these take me so without further ado, some not brilliant pix of my latest Grymn project:



The top five in the photo are about to be Green Stuffed a bit, the bottom four are finished (I have provided two views of the same four miniatures).

Tunnel fighters...maybe Moles/termites for transport? Who knows?

Comments welcome .

These look cool Ramshackle Games makes a great Boring Machine which may suit you http://shop.ramshacklegames.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=211

Is it just me, or is advertising something as a "Boring Machine" really not a good way to increase your sales?

Looks interesting, Inso.

Yep a boring machine does sound...well...boring doesn't it? .

I have some huge wheels and some ideas for a sort of landcrawler (well armoured, giant truck)...I may make it for these guys but I'm not sure yet.

<3 the guns.
they remind me of the starship trooper guns, with juggernaut heads from xmen!

Ten all finished:



I'm waiting for more heads to arrive .

I think you should write them up as Tau. Just a thought.

This looks like a great zero atmosphere squat army. Nice paint job.

I've started on the next batch...and have also begun putting together a couple of characters:



I'm also thinking of adding some of these:

http://cp.cobble.phpwebhosting.com/~libertywhite/2010/MINIMAWECOMPOSITE.jpg

...as tracker dogs/beasts for when the troops are rooting through tunnels.

More finished & more started...with a little more work on the leader:



There's more info on my blog (see my signature ).

Still ticking along...6 more done:

Oddly I find those rather cool.

I think these are great.
A characterful, flavoured army is always a pleasure to see.

Any ideas for AFVs or transports?

Keep up the good work, this is really cool.

Niiiiiice!!

I have some ideas for vehicles but they will need to be scratch-built. They'll be light armoured and half-tracked with lots of front armour and a really effective reverse gear .

And the squats are back...

Inso wrote: They'll be light armoured and half-tracked with lots of front armour and a really effective reverse gear .

So you are planning to use the Tau rules!
Having said that have you taken a look at the Old Crow stuff some of it would look great for these.

I have quite a few of the Old Crow vehicles (5 Glaives, a Gladius, a Trojan and a few other bits and pieces) but I want to keep the vehicles for this project a little bit special.

The plan is to have a single rear track up the centre of the rear compartment, with troops sat on either side facing outwards. The front cab will have a wheel either side and lots of frontal armour...maybe even extending out a little bit so that the disembarking troops have some cover from the front...

The ideas are all there, it is just a case of putting them down on paper. I have all the bits and pieces to make the vehicle...it is just a case of time and enthusiasm.

As for Squats being back...you'll see no hogs, walking eggs or or living ancients here .

This army is looking great. I'm liking the robo-ork. The command characters coat looks great, and I still really like this color scheme.

Imagine the robo-ork as a rescue robot. The hand in the picture will have strong 'grabber' type hands...a bit like those on a crane that works in a car scrap-yard. The other arm will have a smaller hand with a pneumatic drill on the back of his forearm.

I plan on him being a bodyguard for the boss in the long coat. There will also be another couple of pets/aides-de-camp to join the small group.

I'm also planning on a bunch of 'disposable' robots with shields...but I need to find the time.

Love those models. Ratling commandos for the win!

I really like what you've done so far cant wait to see more

Well...wait no longer! Here are the next 6 finished (with shotguns):



I have another 6 with pistols awaiting the putty-work and have just bagged a batch of 11 tanks off E-Bay . Once they arrive and have had a bit of work, I'll show one or two off...

EDIT: @Phlebas: Ratling Commandos? A good idea but they will be the same size as these troops...and I would have to make sure they all had boots on (no furry feet in my army )...unless of course, you are suggesting that these guys ARE Ratling commandos?...I reckon they could be used for those at a push...

Looking great!

For more Grymn info, see here (another side project of mine):

http://grymnoutthere.blogspot.com/

I've finished another six tunnel fighters:



Here's a group shot of all of them so far (35):



...and the next batch with some additional equipment (yet to be attacked with the converting hammer ):



I have also been thinking about the vehicles and I am going to be building them in a modular way so that the one vehicle can swap rear bodies for various transportation options...more on this when I have something to show off .

As always, looking good!

More tunnel fighters:



And if you visit:

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/

You'll find out why one of the troops have blue bits on and further updates to the Epic tank .

Wow, those PI heads really combine with the Grymn for some cool little troopers! Really digging this project, keep up the great progress.

- Salvage

Just discovered this thread
really love what you have going here

excellent stuff Inso!

I've managed to paint the last three of my remaining Tunnel Fighters:



Two of whom were used to finish this squad:



I have some more troops on the way so there will hopefully be more coming very soon .

I wan't to see more!

i usually detest some space dwarves, but your tunnel fighters are sweet.

Here is the latest tunnel fighter. He is one of the commander's local guides:



I've also got all of the tunnel fighters I need to complete the basic troop squads. I've converted and undercoated the next six and will be getting on with them very soon...and just have 4 more to convert to get all of the squads finished .

I have been putting putty on the robot and commander as well...but not enough to show off...

...more to come .

Oh god, the ewoks are advancing to the next tech age. But excellent work on the model!

Just in case everyone thought I've stalled on this little project, I haven't .

I have nearly finished the last ten of the basic troops and have been working on the big robot too. I've also paint stripped all the Epic Land-Raiders (E-bay purchases in various states of paint...Dettol is my friend ) and trimmed them down for the conversion work to begin.

The command squad is still in the 'thinking about' stage but so far has a Commander, the big robot and the 'Ewok'. I am thinking that I may have some bodyguards too but I am not sure whether I will take the robot approach or suitably 'special-up' a few Grymn instead.

I've also been playing with the idea of some powered armour to act as shock troops...

I must admit to being torn between half-tracks and wheeled vehicles for the troop transport role...any thoughts?

I really like these guys they remind me of the Demiurg!The local guide is cool too although one technicality that bugs me is a spear would be a bad weapon choice in the tight constraints of a tunnel...

...um...maybe the spear could be collapsible? The shield has a field generator in it so the spear could be a bit more technical than it would appear...that's the best I can come up with (apart from the fact I like the spear ).

On to other things...all of the basic troops are finished:



Bigger pic:

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Grymn%20Tunnel%20Fighters/GTF17.jpg

So it's now on to all the support and command elements .

I have now finished the commander:



...and a little something I picked up at Salute:



I still need to base these but they will be the communication robots for each of the squads (I also have two spare...just in case I make a few new squads ).

those little robots kinda remind me of Tachikomas from Ghost in the Shell. Very nice. I love the way this army looks. Keep up the good work!

I wish I could find some nicely detailed Tachikomas in the right scale for this army as they would look great...but in the meantime, the robots have been based and have also been joined by something that may be familiar to a few people...



(It's available from Black Cat Bases...but it doesn't appear to be in their shop :s ).

well isnt that lil fella the cute robot of the old time movie "the black hole"? dont now the name just at the moment...

i like the movie especially all those dark robots with their twin handlasers... thats a fantastic idea to use this smal fella with the dwarfs^^

Vincent. the security droids had the twin blasters and STAR was the main one of them...then of course there was Maximillian (very cool indeed).

I wanted to get Old Bob as well but they had run out at Salute (a friend managed to get them both...the git ).

Glad you like them though .

Some Tooth-Doggie handlers:



Check out Inso's World (link in my sig) for more details .

Hrm, minis give me the feel of high end well geared ratlings.

They are more like well muscled and proportioned Dwarfs...sort of like short humans with large hands, feet and heads.

I've seen them used for Ratling snipers in the past...there are two sniper models available from Hasslefree Miniatures:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=71

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=127

I've decided against using the panda and 'cartoon' robot conversion for the command squad...they just didn't fit in with the uniformity of the rest of the troops...so I've started to convert the Grymn required for the squad:



The guy in the middle is a bodyguard and the four others have 'experimental' weapons (a plasma rifle and Dante gun). I will be adding three more bodyguards once I have the miniatures.

Next are a few assault walkers (with the commander for scale):



They are Vulkan Battlesuits from the now OOP Warzone range...there will be another three at some point .

Hope you like them .

Are you not using the robot then? i thought it looked awesome!

It will get finished and used for something...just not the tunnel fighters army.

if you make some transports and hq's for this they will be sooooooo awesome and very well painted grats for you keep it up

What race does this count as in WH40k?

I haven't thought about what they count as yet...but the generally accepted route for me would be Imperial Guard (although I would be tweaking things).

I am planning on building some transports, finishing off the command squad and adding three more assault walkers.

I have a shield robot to add to all of the squads...then the army will be complete...before I start adding extras at some point .

i normally don't like dwarfs , but this army rocks m8 , totally love it

Cheers!

I've finished the latest batch of troops...I just need three more to finish the unit now:

Command squad finished:

Quick question are these an independant army or are they based on a codex? apart from that the work is awsome and the painting is really good

You simply must make an army profile for this when you're done! I take back what I
said about the mushroom men. I want to make some Grymn! I like the head
swap idea and might just try it myself.

Young_Logan wrote:Quick question are these an independent army or are they based on a codex?

Although I didn't have a starting plan for these, they could easily be turned into an Imperial Guard army (although the command squad would have to be altered to fit and the comms robots would just count as a standard trooper with comms and the weapon used by the rest of the squad)...

...to be honest, I just liked the conversions and went through my 'spares box' and this is what came out...well, apart from the odd mini I had to buy to make all of the squads equal in size.

I have had a few ideas with regard to the tracked robots and they don't really fit in my vision of a mobile and flexible force (maybe they would be better for urban battles?) so they will be left out for now.

I am at a point where the work on transports will have to start...effectively Chimera half-tracks but scratch built (they'll probably be counted as Chimeras though).

One thing you'll probably notice is that I change my mind all of the time...fortunately, I haven't stopped building up the troops while I consider all of the detours !

These guys look great! Makes me wish I had a squad or 7.

Tunnel fighter question: How well do the Pig Iron heads fit on the Grymn bodies? Did
you have to cut them or the Grymn at all(other than removing the heads, that is)?

malfred wrote:Tunnel fighter question: How well do the Pig Iron heads fit on the Grymn bodies? Did
you have to cut them or the Grymn at all(other than removing the heads, that is)?

The Pig Iron heads come with a half-dome underneath them (like on a Space Marine plastic head) and I snipped that off with side cutters to make the base of the helmets flat. The Grymn had their heads snipped off with side cutters and then the area was filed flat so that the helmets fit flush. Then it is a case of driiling the body/head and pinning them together. Once that is done, I add some joint details and the 'hump' on the backs with green stuff.

I would say that you need to have the joint detail but the hump wouldn't be necessary if you were not too good with the GS.

The only other additional bit of cutting was on one of the pistol guys. In order for the helmet to fit the one with the pistol pointing upwards, I needed to snip one of the blocks off the back of the helmet...but it doesn't show and was really simple to do.

The helmets I have are the Kolony Inner Guard ones but I have a whole selection of the heads handy so if you want, I can show relative sizes if you really need me too...I'm sure I have a spare Grymn to decapitate somewhere !

That would be sweet and helpful!

awesome paint job. big up

I have decided to keep on building this army...so that means there will need to be more troops. As a result, I have painted up the last 2 comms robots:



The one on the right needed a bit of surgery because it had a deformed gun...it will act as the command comms.

Hey, where do you get grymn?

this is so sick!! cant wait to see more!

Dysartes wrote:Is it just me, or is advertising something as a "Boring Machine" really not a good way to increase your sales?

Looks interesting, Inso.

Munch Munch! wrote:Hey, where do you get grymn?

Online, usually. Hasslefree miniatures.

Oh thanks.

All the Grymn you could ever wish for, can be found here:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/range.php?range_id=25

They are an excellent company and always get you what you order in good time and often with little gifts (including...LOLLIES!!!).

I will be continuing this army until I run out of steam...

...I have been gathering components to start building all of the transports too...

More support on the way:

The second unit of Clankers are now finished:



I have also started on the transports but have only got as far as assembling track links. The transports will be something different and will be individual to the tunnel fighters...I just have to gear myself up to making 11 of them...

clankers looking good.

Great stuff where did the native scout come from! Got to second the Hasslefree tip as well I got the Kindred at Triples and they gave me 2 miniatures free without making any fuss at all about it! And sweeties too!

The native scout was converted from this miniature:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=2134


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I have been trying for an hour to take a decent army pic and this is the best I can come up with...and even then it is a case of choosing which one you like the best out of a bad bunch :( :

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Grymn%20Tunnel%20Fighters/GTFArmy1.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Grymn%20Tunnel%20Fighters/GTFArmy2.jpg

They are links because they are big pix .

Looking at them, you have the close combat stuff on the right (3 squads of 10), The infantry in the middle (3 squads of 10), the support elements on the left (2 squads of 3 Clankers and a squad of 3 scouts with Tooth-doggies) and the command squad across the front.

I hope you like the pic .

A drone squad:



The controller:



The next squad (WIP):

That guy with laptop is absolutely fantastic! Great work keep it up

Subscribed - sculpting, painting and overall concept are top-notch, excellent photos as well!

Cheers! Here's the latest finished 'basic' squad...Pink Squad :



Only another two basic squads and a close combat squad and it's on to the weirder units again ...sappers, logistics, field police, engineers...

lol, I love the hello kitty laptop.

Pfffh no one cares about Space Dwarfs. Naah man just kiddin. Great painting though keep it up. Green is best!

Well if people don't care about Space Dwarfs then maybe they'll care when some of these come stomping through their back gardens:



Yes...the Tunnel Fighters have gone top-side and have shipped in some heavy support :

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Grymn%20Tunnel%20Fighters/GTF39.jpg

With more coming off the assembly lines every day...just waiting for paint:



With the stores department expanding daily:



...so be afraid...be very afraid...the Dwarfs just got a whole lot bigger ...

I have 11 Mechs to join the army; one for each of the squads (4 close combat, 6 standard and 1 command)...after all, there's no point climbing out of the tunnels and caverns without a little bit of a chance of winning, is there?




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malfred wrote:Tunnel fighter question: How well do the Pig Iron heads fit on the Grymn bodies? Did
you have to cut them or the Grymn at all(other than removing the heads, that is)?

Here's one of the larger Pig Iron heads on a Grymn body...I added the hoses to the front but if I hadn't, then there would have been practically no need for any Green Stuff...

Im gonna steal a line from my wife here and say, 'those are adorable!'

Very nice conversions. What models are those clankers?

The Clankers are Bauhaus 'Vulkan Battlesuits' from the now defunct Warzone range.

all i can say to your mechs is: son! take good care you could poke an eye out with that...

whoa you have some serious ideas there...looks great.

vik

I really like these. They look like they could be allies of the Tau. They remind me of the Demiurg. I liked your paint job on the mystic panda but I agree that he didn't really fit the over all style. It also kind of bugged me that he was carrying a spear, that's a bad tactical choice in the confines of a tight tunnel! Hard to manuver haha.

Thanks .

I reckon they could work with the Tau OK...these particular Dwarfs love to trade .

The Panda would have worked with the spear because the terrain these guys fight in is a bit like the caverns in Starship Troopers...enough space to get a Brain-Bug through (so effectively drive a tank through)...so a spear wouldn't have been a handicap. The reason I decided not to use him was because he didn't fit into the uniform look of the troops.

I have got a little further with the mechs...



They are not finished but look so much better when they aren't a lurid pink!

Dang!

I looked through the blog from the beginning again, as it's just so cool.

Thank you ...

...the production line moves on apace...

will you convert the gun of this giant? i think it doens´t fit in right...makes it look to gundam for my likings...

vik

WOW!!!!!!

Viktor von Domm wrote:will you convert the gun of this giant? i think it doens´t fit in right...makes it look to gundam for my likings...

vik

IMHO, I think it looks awesome. I say, keep the gun. But thats up to Inso

well his paintjob might do all the tricks to make it look right thats for sure...

vik

I plan on keeping the gun...I don't want to spend too much time converting as I seem to be ticking along nicely and I don't need the distraction.

He also looks like an infantryman...which I quite like . He'll fit in well with his unit.

So...units.

I have thought about what makes a Mech unit and it will be made up of the following:

MECH UNIT

9 Tunnel Fighters consisting of:
1 leader
2 heavy/special weapons
6 basic troops

1 communications robot

1 APC

1 Mech

Each of the mechs will be geared towards the equipment of the squad they join so a close combat mech will join a close combat squad and a standard mech will join a standard squad.

Because I have a bunch of mechs, I will need to have a field support team which will consist of a group of technicians and mechanics, some specialised vehicles (like scissor lifts, flatbeds for damaged mechs and maybe some field workshops) and maybe a little bit of armoured support for when the technicians are working on the mechs...

All very early in the planning stages yet.

So I now have one finished mech and three base-coated ready for washing...



Next up will be another Scope Dog (infantry one).

looking good

This is where the mechs are now...

The latest squad of troops:



And the green mech from the last post...base-coated:

Wow Sweet...I would write all that up as a secretive Imperial Ratling Army list....you would so rock the table wars....hint ::Whispers in ear....Leviathian..Join the revolution::

...no Leviathan...now a Titan, that is a different matter

An OGrymn to head-up an anti-infantry unit:



I'll add some standard sized Grymn with chain-guns...

Wow.. That looks really good, and I'm quite impressed on how well you matched it with the existing sculpts!

What "sticker" is on the back on that laptop?

Thanks ...and it's Hello Kitty...

Oh noes, I thought it was that, it is just so wrong it's... awesome!

Your miniatures are delicious. This new Ogrym is especially cool. Any chance of seeing more in the future?

ghosty wrote:Your miniatures are delicious. This new Ogrym is especially cool. Any chance of seeing more in the future?

There may be one or two at most...they are pretty rare in Grymn society and they are definitely character models...but never say never!

what a great imagination. Your army theme is awesome and very well executed!

p.s. +1 hello kitty

Love the laptop. Great patience and steady hands required I'm sure.

Nice free-hand on he laptop. Well, it's hello kitty, but it IS well painted.

Wow, amazing!

Ah I just love this army so much!




I still miss that robot you stopped sculpting by the by.

ghosty wrote:Ah I just love this army so much!




I still miss that robot you stopped sculpting by the by.

...not stopped...paused ...I am hoping that my sculpting mojo will return enough for me to get creative enough to finish him one day (I'm sure it will happen soon).

I took pix of the army (so far):

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Finished%20Grymn%20Tunnel%20Fighter%20Units/


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I've just returned from 6 weeks in Africa and thought I'd jump back into the hobby with my penultimate infantry unit:



I've almost finished converting the final infantry squad (a close combat squad)...then it will just be a small medic unit and the mechs to finish ...

Sweet Stuff!

Here are the finished units so far:

http://grymnoutthere.blogspot.com/2010/12/gratuitous-army-pix.html

The final standard unit:

The final troop unit for the army...a medic unit with an escorted doctor, an escorted medic with scanner and a stretcher party:



The only tunnel fighter miniatures left to convert are those who pilot the mechs .

First, Grymn are definitely "Space Dwarfs" done right. Second, the bigger powered armor miniature channels Frank Horrigan of "Fallout" fame. Third... Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Hell yeah!

This blog is one of the most awesome I've read in recent memory.
Well done!

Da Boss wrote:This blog is one of the most awesome I've read in recent memory.
Well done!

Thank you .

...and buckle up because I have nearly finished assembling the last elements of the army...

...The mechs are one their way !!!

Where are the mechs from? Nifty look and they go together well with the army but I was looking forward to the tunnellers and transport.....

Sorry to disappoint on the transports...I haven't ruled them out all together...I have just been working on this army for so long that I am reaching a point where I desperately need a change...so consider the transports as 'on the back-burner'.

At no point in time was my intention to include any sort of tunnelling vehicle (AKA Mole). The idea behind this army was originally to be a bit like Starship Troopers going to planet 'P'...They turn up and fight in existing caverns/tunnels that have been excavated by the indigenous aliens of the planet. That is why all of the troops have sealed suits (for the environmental protection they provide).

The larger mechs were added when I realised that the aliens will go topside to hunt...so I needed to have a bit of fire-power for when that happened.

The smaller mechs (Clankers) are OOP 'Bauhaus Vulkan Battlesuits' from the Warzone range by Target games.

The comms droids are spider droids from here (with the gun barrels pointing skywards):

http://www.groundzerogames.net/mambo/store1/commerce.cgi?product=SG15V&exact_match=on&cart_id=9913063.19329

The large mechs are Armoured Trooper Votoms mechs and I bought mine from here (Type in VOTOMS in the search box):

http://www.comet-miniatures.com/search.php?xsid=603a10cd1cb6fdb791e820b5180abb62&s_for=votoms

I have the Scopedog, Brutish Dog and ST Bachus mechs (as they are) and a converted Marshy Dog. If you need images, there are plenty on line if you search for AT Votoms images.


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Now all I have to do is finish painting them all:





You can spot the army commander right at the front if you look close enough .

Love this stuff. Aww he's so tiny! Just how tall are those mechs?

They are about as big as a new Dread-Knight....about 11CM (4.5 inches).

Each of the mechs has a Grymn Pilot hidden within the helmet:

sweet!. Those pilots have pig iron heads but the body isnt grymn, do these models have pilots in the origional kit. Man this stuff is soo cool! I wish grymn wasn't so expensive. This thread needs to come back to life!


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Btw I wonderend what you thought of these little fellas http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Yoyodyne.html I wanna make a small force out of them but do you think I could get enough variation out of them with simple conversions such as head and weapon and arm swaps +IG bitz. Just a bit of squat mind food for ya

This thread needs to come back to life? I'm working on it !!!

I had a six week trip to Kenya so I didn't get any stuff done while out there...but since I've been back, I've converted/painted three squads and assembled 5 mechs...and I only got back at the beginning of April...I canna work any faster, Captain ...

The bodies of the pilots are from the plastic Combat Zone troopers from Em4 (the top ones here):

http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Science_Fiction.html

As for the Yoyodyne, I think they are supposed to be true 25mm sized human miniatures so I am not convinced they would work as stunties...that said, I reckon you could get quite a range of miniatures with a few head-swaps and a little bit of re posing limbs...I would probably suggest that GW sized weapons/kit may be a bit too big so I would recommend weapons from here (as they ar a wee bit smaller):

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/range.php?range_id=39&subcat_id=17

The CAD guns are more akin to GW sized weapons so I wouldn't necessarily suggest those.

Heads:

http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/head-sprues-c-4.html?zenid=d6f056f6d3a05815cb3f7be3ca8c03a2

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=126_149

All sorts:

http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=12&zenid=ed5cac54c397091fbe23ca59e0728a9f

http://www.shop.microartstudio.com/heads-c-45_74.html

http://www.shop.microartstudio.com/conversion-lab-c-45.html?page=2


Just a few suggestions .

...and I am still working...I have, so far, base-coated one of the five recently assembled Mechs and have under-coated a second one...only three left in an unpainted state at the moment ...

Cheers for that Inso.

You're welcome .

There are plenty of other places I use to get bits and bobs from too...

...maybe there needs to be a bits and bobs thread at some point .

Thanks for that, I was looking at those troopers before and considering them as a cheap proxy IG force with old crow tanks. Thanks for all those links!

The plastic Em4 troops mix well with Tau Firewarrior sprues. If you use the Tau torsos with the Em4 legs and heads they look pretty cool.

Add Cadian arms and you have a very interesting IG unit.

I decided to see what these APCs looked like...what do you think?:

sweet those look cool, not sure about the "trapezium" shape tho, kinda looks top heavy but awesome non the less

I would have preferred it to be a little shorter with a bit more hull space but I didn't want to spend ages converting it...especially because it is the first of 11...so i am content to put up with the shape (even though I agree with you).

I have started painting it and all the rough texture lends itself well to a spot of dry-brushing.

There will be pix later and I reckon I'll post a finished unit (mecha, squad and vehicle)...it will be the first one complete .

Are you gonna use the same chassis for any heavy tanks like russes? It would add a bit of cohereance to your army, suppose just whack a bigger turret on top. Old Crow models do some nice turrets that would work well. Cannot wait to these these painted! Keep it up!

If you check out the following link, you'll see that there are a range of tanks that use the same chassis, so I wouldn't need to convert very much:

http://www.scotiagrendel.com/Products/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3_112_117&zenid=8deb6a9a4e9f35f718450ab92f45b2d7

I don't plan on using any tanks...that is what the mechs are for . The only reason I am using APCs is to ferry the troops around.

Ah I see. So are your mechs gonna count as russes or summin cos I can only see a guard army here, but with the drones the lil' fellas could be tau.

I don't game...I just collect, convert and paint...

...If these were to be used as a WH40k army, they would be Imperial Guard with each of the comms drones acting as basic troops for whichever squad they are in.

I suppose that some of the mechs would be Leman Russ Punishers, some would be standard Russes and one would have to be a Hellhound.

The clankers would be Sentinels or Ogryn.

I'd have to put together a command HQ...and my drone unit would be quite difficult to place...

...I'm sure I could sort something out though .


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well, I have finished painting the APC and it is now part of the first complete mech unit:



Troops, transport and support...job's a good-un .

There are more pix and lots of different troops, vehicles, mechs and even a few marines over at my blog:

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/

Feel free to pop over .

For those interested in the APC (Kryomek Nexus) and some of the Void stuff on my blog, you can get them from here:

http://www.scotiagrendel.com/

oh, those APCs are bigger than I thought... lovely job there, first I didn't think the grey and blue would go with those fellas, but seeing them together it looks pretty unified. Perhaps a whole army shot?

The blue areas on the APC reflect the squad that it is attached to, just the same as the shoulder-pads on the mech. I will be painting the rest of the APCs and mechs with squad colours in the same areas.

I will post an army pic once I have the mechs/APCs finished...there are an awful lot of troops to dig out of the cupboard too often .

Yes, seeing your photobucket you have 11 squads of those fellas, I would have lost them all

...that doesn't include the K9 squad, Drone squad, Medic squad and the 2 Clanker units...

Rest assured that once I start completing the mech units (ie: mech, troop squad and APC) I will start thinking about a full army shot (if I can find room on my table ).

Try a football pitch

Seeing im at work not all of the images are loading in properly (grr), I myself was thinking of using these as APC's / Chimeras.

And I believe you mentioned something about an underground transport somewhere?

I like what I'm seeing so far I will definately check back later to let everything load in properly ^_^ Keep up the good work!

Inso wrote:Sorry to disappoint on the transports...I haven't ruled them out all together...I have just been working on this army for so long that I am reaching a point where I desperately need a change...so consider the transports as 'on the back-burner'.

At no point in time was my intention to include any sort of tunnelling vehicle (AKA Mole). The idea behind this army was originally to be a bit like Starship Troopers going to planet 'P'...They turn up and fight in existing caverns/tunnels that have been excavated by the indigenous aliens of the planet. That is why all of the troops have sealed suits (for the environmental protection they provide).

The larger mechs were added when I realised that the aliens will go topside to hunt...so I needed to have a bit of fire-power for when that happened.

The smaller mechs (Clankers) are OOP 'Bauhaus Vulkan Battlesuits' from the Warzone range by Target games.

The comms droids are spider droids from here (with the gun barrels pointing skywards):

http://www.groundzerogames.net/mambo/store1/commerce.cgi?product=SG15V&exact_match=on&cart_id=9913063.19329

The large mechs are Armoured Trooper Votoms mechs and I bought mine from here (Type in VOTOMS in the search box):

http://www.comet-miniatures.com/search.php?xsid=603a10cd1cb6fdb791e820b5180abb62&s_for=votoms

I have the Scopedog, Brutish Dog and ST Bachus mechs (as they are) and a converted Marshy Dog. If you need images, there are plenty on line if you search for AT Votoms images.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Now all I have to do is finish painting them all:





You can spot the army commander right at the front if you look close enough .

Thoses mechas make me think of gundam idk why it just does....

Those APCs look excellent. Good find!

I would disagree with the CAD guns statement though. The smaller weapons are more realistically sized. Its only really the higher numbers that are equivalent to GW size, and they are all supposed to be hefty support weapons rather than individual trooper weapons/

cool looking army , you have achieved a seamless and original blend , congrats matey. The mech pilots are great , but the mech poses are a little static , it would be cool if they were a bit more dynamic for my tates, minor quibble though on a really well implemented army. The apc are a good match for your tunnel fighters.

Thats an idea, try some running poses

Without chopping the mechs up, I am fairly limited with posing due to the limited articulation in a few of the joints. There are a couple of more dynamic ones in the bunch but thei is the most 'running' one I could find:



Once I have painted them all and posted them with their squads, you'll see that some are more dynamic than they seem.

It's also too late in the day for re-posing so if they appear a bit static, I'll have to put up with it :( .

I have just had another 3 of the APCs turn up in all of their stinky-resin goodness so it shouldn't be long before more of the squads get a bit of transport .

Can these dudes fly? That would be cool, some sort of crouched near landing pose (supported with clear rods or something) Chopping, as you say, would probally be needed for this. Those joints looks fairly "workable" though. just saying

My view is Dwarves aren't dyamic they're static and enduring. So I like them the Grendel APC looks better than they do on the website!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh noticed you mentioned you had a Glaive from Old Crow any chance of seeing a comparison shot with a Chimera?

The mechs have tracks/wheels in their feet in the Anime films...so imagine these mechs whizzing around as if on roller skates!

It has taken me a long time to assemble them as they are...there is little chance of me going back and chopping them up.

I am sorry but the only Chimeras that I have are packed away in the loft so I can't do a comparison shot. The only comparison I have is this one (and it shows a Grymn next to it):



Here's the next three APCs (just ready for the undercoat):



Still ticking along .

Nice work with these hasslefree grymms I would love to see these on space dwarves online http://spacedwarfsonline.freeforums.org/index.php your space dwarves rock !

Thorne wrote:Nice work with these hasslefree grymms I would love to see these on space dwarves online http://spacedwarfsonline.freeforums.org/index.php your space dwarves rock !

Just joined and posted a few of these there .

Thanks a lot mate!

I've got 4 APCs done now:

woot old crow for the win! those apcs look awesome, love the squad colours =D

Old Crow are great (and I will be using the APCs for my Urban Army) but the painted ones are from Scotia Grendel's Kryomek range.

The squad colours will be carried over to the Mech's shoulder pads as well...just to keep everything nice and unified.

Now I have a decision to make... do I paint three mechs to join the new APCs or buy more APCs while I am in the mood to paint them...

...Life is tricky ...

paint them... and but more . Seriously though, I would paint them to join the apc's and squads. You could buy more for special mech units.

I have deliberately gone for the Kryomek APCs because of their textured armour. It has a sort of 'rocky' look to it and suits the original theme well. The Old Crow stuff is much cleaner and will really suit my Urban forces once I get started on them.

...I have just ordered another three of the Kryomek APCs for the next three units .

I am on a roll with them .

I don't think they would mix well...the Old Crow tanks would make the Kryomek ones look a bit like toys .

I suppose. What is this fabled urban force? Will this be grymn or another race?

These are the Urban Army (so far):



I have three Tau Devilfish to go with these drop troops:



BUT the Devilfish have been converted AND the paint on these guys is too complicated (all those little squares) so I will be going for a simpler scheme like this:



...so yes it's more Grymn but unlike the Tunnel Fighters, I have a plan!

Is it.....a cunning plan?

j3r03n wrote:Is it.....a cunning plan?

Not really...it just involves me setting the army structure and buying the miniatures to suit a list. In this case, it is following the British Army organisation of 4-man fire-teams and 24-man platoons. I already have 2 platoons of troops, waiting to get ready for paint...and a heavy infantry platoon to go with it...and 12 vehicles...not including the Devilfish...

The Tunnel Fighters started as a mix of random miniatures and ended up getting sorted into a cohesive army.

Ok Urban and Tunnel on the way. Mountain and Marines to come?

I already have a desert army:

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Grymn%20Desert%20Troops/Desert1.jpg

...and a temperate army:

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Grymn%20DPM/GrymnDPM7.jpg

...so I guess I can't rule out a mountain and marine army in the future...obviously once the urban army has been completed...

I finished painting the next mech:



I have also started on the second one with a third ready to get progressed when I finish. I thought that I'd finish the close combat mechs to go with the APCs that I have already finished. That way I will have 4 complete mech units (mech, troops, APC) rather than a bunch of squads with APCs and me still having to paint a host of mechs...it breaks things up a bit.

I also have another 3 of the APCs ready to be assembled...so if I can finiah these mechs, I can tick along with the APCs again .

I guess it is a bit of 'stick and carrot' .

Sweet stuff. Is the urban army gonna be linked to this, or a whole seperate delio. you should next have a skuba army!

I think that Scuba is a bit too 'out there' for me...and if I did ever decide to start gaming, there wouldn't be any opponents for me to fight .

The urban army will just be another Grymn army...it won't be tied in BUT it could be if I needed it to. The trouble is that the army organisation for the different armies I have are completely different:

DPM: Standard Imperial Guard organisation.
Desert: 6-man squads organised into platoons.
Tunnel Fighters: 10-man squads organised like a space marine army...but with added mechs.
Urban Army: 8-man squads (2 4-man fire-teams) organised into 24-man platoons.

They could all be from different planets with different ideas on organisation...but fighting as a coherent 'mixed' army would be awkward.

4 mechs done:



7 mechs to go...

...six now

themechs look good, , an effective colour scheme

Cheers Neil .

Here is a bit of WIP stuff:

I have paused on the sculpting a bit this week...but have managed to finish the three APCs:

Lookin' good, Inso! Keep them coming.

Cheers . I'll keep on it...I already have the last 4 each of mechs and APCs so I have no excuses .

The sculpting on the Psyker guy is really impressive Mechs are looking great and the APC's look nifty.

Very well done, and might I say you are pretty good with modeling green stuff. Nice job.

Has it really been 5 months?

Well...I have finished all of the APCs now and here they are in all their raindow coloured glory:



Four of them have cannon turrets for the assault units they join and the rest have missile turrets with a more tactical theme.

I have also been looking at transport for a few of the specialist units and have dug out a couple of vehicles...one from Fenris Games and the other from Ground Zero Games. It is at times like this I am glad I have rather random buying habits:



The one on the left I have allocated to my drone unit because it is large enough to house all of the drones and still have space in the back for a small workshop. The smaller vehicle is perfect for six K9s and three handlers and for all intents and purposes, quite resembles a police dog unit vehicle. I have managed to find some decent wheels for the vehicle because the ones that came with it were very poorly cast.

Still ticking along .

Hey good to see you back at it matey , that sculpt is amazing mate, nice work on your apc's too.

excellent work! I love the look of little dudes with huge guns!

Cheers .

I have now assembled the vehicles and converted a new member to add to the drone squad:

Hey, Inso - what do you think of the Grymm Walker that HF previewed recently?

Do you really need to ask? I love them .

I have decided to use them for an urban project instead of some other walkers I already have.

The only thing that is worrying me is how much they will cost because I want a lot of them.

...speaking of Walkers, here are all of the eleven mechs finished:

Army pic (basic units only):





http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Grymn/Grymn%20Tunnel%20Fighters/GTF85.jpg

Now the basic units are finished, the specialist units need to be finished as well. Here is the K9 unit, complete with newly painted transport:



Next will be the UAV unit.

Hahaha those are awesome, Inso! Really diggin' the transport.

Cheers. I'm in the process of painting the six wheel ATV for the drone squad to travel in. I had to convert a second trooper to act as the driver as well so it looked like a proper unit.

Awesome!

Cool stuff

Finished drone squad and transport:



ALL of the licence plates will be re-painted and decals will be used to replace the woeful markings that are there at the moment. I will get other decals to mark all of the vehicles with insignia and warnings.

Looking good as ever very well done on the wind shield as well.

Looking good, Inso - might order some Grymm when HF have their 25% off sale (started today, voucher code TAXBILL).

The Grymn are lovely little minis and paint up very nicely.

DEFINITELY worth getting...but I would say that, wouldn't I?!

I have started to sort out the Clankers into proper units now. There will be ten models per unit:

1 leader (with extra missile launcher)
6 battlesuits
1 battlesuit with las-cannon
1 battlesuit with auto-cannon
1 comms-robot

Here is the first unit (minus the comms robot because I haven't bought them yet ):

havent seen you here for a while! Great to see you back!

Cheers

I've been about but have mostly been distracted.

There will be more to follow (especially now that all of the conversion has been completed on this group).

I have a lot more Clankers to finish but now that all of the heavy weapon arms are done, it is just a case of assembly and adding the visors so it won't be too taxing.

I have another unit of 9 with a further 6 to make a command unit... or find another three on E-bay to make a full unit!

Or buy some of the lovely new Grymn walkers Hasslefree are now selling?

I plan to buy 14 of the HF walkers for my Urban project but for my Tunnel Fighters, I have amassed 24 of these Warzone battlesuits. I particularly like these ones because they look like they are rugged enought to be mining/tunnel fighting armour. The Hasslefree walkers are too beautiful to live underground .

Another five months have slipped by and there are updates...

I have managed to get hold of the extra Vulkans required to finish off a third Clanker unit. Each Clanker unit will Have:
Leader
Comms Robot
Lascannon
Autocannon
6x Assault Cannon

So 10 models each unit and I have three units (2 assembled and converted and 1 in kit form).

I have finished sculpting and painting the Mystic and have assembled all of the other models to join him in a specialist command unit which is made up of:

Mystic (OGrymn)
Assault Cannon (OGrymn)
Heavy Walker
Comms Robot
Grymn with Pulsegun
5x Grymn with Shotgun

I also have the two remaining vehicles to assemble; one for the specialist command unit and one for the medical team.

That means I have everything I need to finish the army now... I just need to convert/paint it all .

I will post some pix shortly of all of the updates.

Glad to see you're still kicking around, Inso. Stoked you can finish this army off. Look forward to the pics when you get around to them.

Some pix...

The Clanker units:



The Kit form Clanker unit:



The painted Mystic:



The WIP Squad:



Here's a shot of most of the squad with no paint (the Clanker is there for scale):



Hopefully, the Specialist Command Unit will be painted up by the weekend

The special unit:



Just a vehicle and it is complete.

More here:

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/only-month-until-dod-is-over.html

All the Clankers are assembled and converted now and painting has begun:



More at the blog:

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/job-jobbed.html

Excellent work Inso, i've just read all your updates from page 1and am truly impressed with this army. So full of charachter and your sculpting is top-notch. Subbed

Thank you

I have started the first unit of Clankers now:

The first Clanker unit is finished:



The Grymn Sgt from the special unit has popped along to see how things are getting along (for scale purposes).

Very nice! I love the continued aesthetic you have going through your army, with the comms robot in your tunnel fighters squad being upsized for the clankers.

Still wish you used the bodyguard Robot you made way back when for the general

I really love this army, it's superbly painted, and very unique. Are you excited about Kevs Power armored Grymm that are being developed right now?

 ghosty wrote:
Very nice! I love the continued aesthetic you have going through your army, with the comms robot in your tunnel fighters squad being upsized for the clankers.

Still wish you used the bodyguard Robot you made way back when for the general

I really love this army, it's superbly painted, and very unique. Are you excited about Kevs Power armored Grymm that are being developed right now?

Cheers

The bodyguard robot is still about (not finished but in the queue to be finished one day) so you never know.

As for Kev's powered armour... of course I am excited They will fit straight into my urban army project.

Really liking these, very characterful - and the K9 unit is fantastic

Cheers

The K9s are from here:

http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=lesser-mawes-x8~hfsa310x2&category=miniatures~sci%252dfi-aliens

Gotta love those hasslefree minis - great sculpts from a really good company - looking forward to seeing more of your stuff!

The next WIP unit:

The finished unit:

 Inso wrote:
Cheers .

I have now assembled the vehicles and converted a new member to add to the drone squad:

So is the drone squad vehicle (6 wheeler) from Fenris games? I can't find it on their site.

Yes, it is a Marauder from Fenris games but it looks like it has been pulled from both their normal shop and their E-bay one too.

New favorite WIP blog? I think yes.

Subbed

 sir william the bold wrote:
New favorite WIP blog? I think yes.

Subbed

Cheers... but it won't last for much longer.

Only one more unit of Clankers and two armoured vehicles and the army will be ready for 'finished army pix'

The finished army will have:

11 mechs
11 tracked APCs
11 standard troop units (including command)
4 wheeled transports
1 Specialist command unit
1 Medic unit
1 Drone unit
1 K9 unit
3 Clanker units

Not much to go at all

I thought you said you would be adding some of the Grymm Power Armour that is being released soon, Inso?

That will be added to my Urban Army.

I love the new powered armour but I have got to a point where I want to be finished with this army so I will put the powered armour with the other WIP army (which has a more flexible army list ... at the moment).

I am painting the last Clankers now and will sort out the two vehicles soon after (I have them both but need to convert and assemble them). Then the army will be done

The final Clanker unit is now finished:

A WIP for the penultimate vehicle; a field ambulance/operating theatre:

The primed suspect:

I have now finished painting the medical vehicle (apart from the number plates and varnish):



The number plates will be done when I dig all of the vehicles out to sort the mess I made of the plates last time .

I also have a WIP of the command vehicle... I have done so much :

Here's a further WIP of the command vehicle:



Lots more STUFF here (including information about why it is so big and magnetism...):

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/turtle-power-and-command-vehicles.html

Love your blogs Inso! It really makes me want to pick up some Grymn from Hasslefree. What's your take on the new walker with arms coming out?

Cheers... hopefully, this one will be finished very soon with a host of full army pix .

I love the walker and will be getting a few for my standard walker platoon (which will be joining my urban army: http://s35.photobucket.com/user/Inso/library/Grymn/Grymn%20New%20Model%20Army?sort=3&page=1 ).

I always recommend getting some Grymn. They may appear to be a bit expensive but they are beautiful little miniatures and a joy to paint .

So... apart from the command vehicle, everything is finished...

Everything looks great! really liking the unit of giant walkers, all the infantry is really cool too. keep up the good work