How's the saying go?? "the best laid plans of mice and men oft gang algee"... or something like that.

So, I went to spray on the green primer base coat on my Vanguard model, only to discover I was spraying it with a regular old green spray paint. Not a model spray paint... just spray paint of nearly the exact same shade of green. So, rather than spending my day painting my model, I've been spending it trying to strip it. First Pine Sol for several hours, then paint thinner, now back to pine sol overnight.

So, I'll either work on painting my Sternguard or one of my two characters (Telion or Pedro) in the interim. Bugger.

I <3 full power simple green (available at Lowes) for plastic. Put in for a few days, come back and wash off!

And the winner is....

St. Telion!! You're the next contestant on "The Brush is Right"!! (cheers, applause)

Actually the wifal unit picked him out. Oh, and now the other Sternguard are at least yellow. I've also decided to do my Pedro Cantor equivalent up as in Tranquility Campaign camo as his major effect is on the Sternguard. We'll say "my" Pedro earned his rank originally during the Tranquility Campaign as a member of the snipers & has kept the color scheme ever since.

You could make his storm bolter suppresed lol

Suppresed?

Like sniper rifles.

It would look a bit funny if The silencer was done wrong, wait you do mean like suppressed as in silencer?

I get it... silencer / flash suppressor on the end of the barrel... *grin* Funny idea, I'll have to think about it.

Hey Gitsplitta, are you gonna carve off Telion's Ultramarine symbols? It's fairly easy if you leave on his marksman and campaign awards check out my version here if you like...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/55483-Conversion%2C%20Daemonhunters%2C%20Inquisition%2C%20Stormtrooper.html

His lefthand shoulderpad is just green stuffed to cover the ultrasymbol.

hope this gives you some ideas

Thanks Blackhand... I've got it covered. Got the tools, and the skills... *grin*. Well, got the tools at any rate... You'd never know the insignia were there... got them off Telion and Pedro... no problemo. However after an ofternoon of heavy yard work my hands are shaking... so I won't be much for painting today (can barely type).

Finch Claw wrote:It would look a bit funny if The silencer was done wrong, wait you do mean like suppressed as in silencer?

Sorry, yes. I'm from a gun-freindly family and was taught to call things by their "correct" names. For example, it's a magazine 99% of the time its called a clip!

whalemusic360 wrote:For example, it's a magazine 99% of the time its called a clip!

This made me lol because it's true! My face always twists in discomfort when someone says something like "that gun has a fairly large clip."

I've been lurking this thread for a while. Your 2 threads (this one and the one about your children's armies) are both awesome. Hope ya'll have fun all the way through it. I'm the only one in my family who has anything to do with Modeling or miniatures (note I didn't say art/painting). Glad you and your children are having fun and keep up the good work.

Munch Munch! wrote:

whalemusic360 wrote:For example, it's a magazine 99% of the time its called a clip!

This made me lol because it's true! My face always twists in discomfort when someone says something like "that gun has a fairly large clip."

It drives me up the wall when I hear that confusion too. I have a couple of guns in my arsenal, my Mosin-Nagant and my Mauser, that have clips. But I really and truly hate the confusion.

Well, made some decent progress on Telion tonight... about half painted and washed. Nothing worth photographing... just kind of pedestrian painting. Hoping to do something special with him but at the moment I'm just laying down a basic paint job. I'm not exactly sure how I want to handle the cloak, maybe have an inkling of an interesting idea, but I need to get the base figure done first.

Check in tomorrow...

Lesseee.... what else? Ordered some doming resin & all the bits I'll need to make the "swamp scouts". I think that's enough damage for one night.



Morning update:
Snuck into the studio a bit early to do a little bit of painting... moved Telion along... belt pouches, gun detail, turtleneck. Basic paint-job will definitely be done this evening.

as per request because Gitsplitta doesn't want two posts to get stuck together: BUMP!

Thank you c34.... smarmy.... but it did the trick!


Scoutmaster Sergeant Darius Stone of the Mantis Warriors
(Telion Equivalent)

Darius Stone is old… how old is a matter of much speculation amongst the new recruits he guides, encourages and bludgeons into being worthy of assuming the mantle of full Space Marines, but it is certain he is the oldest living Mantis Warrior not encased within dreadnought armor. He was old before the rebellion of the Badab War, back when the Mantis Warriors fought side-by-side with the Ulramarines on Speculis 7 near the Tannhauser Gate, during the Crux Campaign. He was old when he was granted special permission by Marneus Calgar himself to train and learn from the Ultramarine Sergeant Telion. As the Scoutmaster for the Mantis Warriors it was his duty to learn everything he could from Telion. Telion had perfected his role of master scout, sniper and trainer in service to the Ultramarines. With Telion's guidance Stone learned new skills, and used them to improve the training of the new Mantis Warrior recruits... then to his everlasting shame, saw them used in defiance of the Emperor during the Badab War.

During the "Dark Times" of the crusade, the scouts all eventually matriculated forwards into the body of chapter as full marines. With no new recruits, Stone was assigned to the Sternguard and served well until the chapter was recalled by the Inquisition. Though Stone relished his time with the esteemed cadre’ of veterans, many of whom he trained and served with on the fabled Tranquility Campaign… he longed for the challenge of molding young recruits into Space Marines once again. When the recall order came, no man in the chapter was happier than Stone.

Darius Stone has never been more important to the Chapter than he is at this moment. The Mantis Warriors were closer to extinction than anyone is willing to admit, and the future of the Chapter has been put squarely into his hands as Scoutmaster. His scout detachment, nicknamed "The Stone Cold Killers” now makes up the bulk of the Mantis Warrior tactical capabilities. Mantis Warrior scout units are typically fielded in triplicate, using the ancient "horns of the bull" tactic. Stone himself takes command of a large sniper unit in the center, while the two other units are split into combat squads, ½ snipers which support Stone on the center flanks, and ½ close-assault mounted in Land Speeder Storms to outflank the enemy, destroy rearward deployed armor and cause confusion in the enemy ranks. All recruits take part in all aspects of warfare, so when they accept their responsibilities as full battle-brothers they can be assigned as needed and ensure the survival of the Mantis Warriors. But Stone IS old... and is known by his fellow marines not by the traditional term "battle brother", but by the term "battle father"... to signify the fact that most of the surviving members of the Chapter were trained by his hand, and his lessons in no small part... kept them alive during the Dark Times.

(Edited to fix some confusing phrasing... & a bit of added content)

I've just caught up with this blog and am really impressed with it! Well done on re-invigorating an old favourite!

Wow, that is really a nice bit of fluff for the Scoutmaster Sergeant! Can not wait to see his model now that I've read how amazing he is.

Where is the name Darrius Stone from. I know I've heard it but cant think of where

To be honest I don't know... just kind of thought-bubbled it up... but it may well have come from somewhere else and it just stuck in my brain.

Trying to decide if I have the stones to name my chapter master "Davidian Lister" or not... Would have to model dreadlocks hanging out of the back of Pedro's helmet... I can guarantee you that one of the dreadnoughts will be named "Brother Kryten" though.


On the lighter side (can it get lighter than naming space marines after characters in "Red Dwarf"??) I made a quick list of the options I want available for my full Mantis Warrior army... and with the exception of one land speeder storm I either already own everything I need or it's on order. Granted much of it are scattered bits and pieces... but that can be fixed with time and super glue.

Loved how you refered to the maelstrom crusade as the dark times. Can't wait to see telion.

Keep in mind this is just the Telion figure I'm working with... not something custom built. I fear my tale has raised expectations that my humble paint job will fail to meet.

Much... a new, hung over avatar... I approve!

lol, thanks. I was searching for pics for a project I did at my com tech class.

Darius stone, actor, played in a beautiful mind (according to google)
Darrius stone, college basketball referee
and Darius Stone apparently is the creator of the website stonecoldarsenal.com

hope that helps

I can honestly say I've never heard of any of them... no offense to the Darii mentioned.


I need your help... I need to make a decision on the color of the inside of Stone's cloak. My two colors are the foundation dark green and dark red (burgundy). While I think the burgundy will give a much better contrast and look, it's not very camo... though the final will be washed with delvan mud to tone it down & make it much more earth toned. The green is very snipy, but won't show off the figure to good effect. Please take a look at the two pics presented and let me know what you think.


You'll note that there is an Ultramarine symbol on Darius' bolt gun. I figure the "stalker pattern" is exclusive to Telion, thus Darius' weapon would have been a gift from his mentor, thus the gun retains it's original chapter badge. I must say that I thought I'd done a pretty good job with him.... he looks pretty good at 8-10", but close up the blending is crap. Shoot. Well, still need advice on the color.

Burgundy cloak...



Dark green cloak...



Please note that the back of the cloak will be fully camo'd, I'm just wondering about the interior. If I really get brave I may try a making a green stuff hood for him to differentiate him from every other Telion out there...

Personally I would go for the dark green, the burgundy just looks too flashy for a guy who spends so much time skulking behind enemy lines.

Nice job on the shoulderpad btw, I screwed mine up and had to GS over the scar, lost the detail of the raised rim, Doh!

I'd have to say green as well. A bright red sniper wouldnt last long.

Good call, and the wife agrees... hat trick!!

Well, he's basically done... just waiting for the flocking to dry on the base. Should have final pics tomorrow evening. No hood I'm afraid, not yet anyway. Might experiment with it later though.

I'd go green as well. Also, while I understand keeping the Ultramarines symbol - does it need to be blue? Black, silver or even gold would look better in my opinion... Enjoying your blogs (ie not just this one) - keep up the good work!

A really interesting character... If he's so old shouldn't he have one or two studs on his fore-head?

Studs, and liver spots!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
One stud... and liver spots! (though they're faint)

Sealer just went on, then the grass effects... then done. I must admit to being a little uncertain about the camo on the cloak. Right now it's just a deep, rich brown with the dark green interior (reversible?). Under most circumstances that would probably work pretty well... but I don't know if I should go further and make it look like the basing or not. The base color of the cloak is the same color as the basing... so I always have that option. Could even try static-grassing parts of the cloak (like the base)... perhaps that would be a bit over the top. I also ringed it in that same brown... have always ringed my figs in black to make the stand out more... but I thought I'd experiment with something different.

Pic tonight. Once this fig is done I'm going to have to take a break from modeling as we have house guests coming over this weekend *and* a cub scout camping trip to prepare for.

Gitsplitta wrote:Thank you c34.... smarmy.... but it did the trick!


Scoutmaster Sergeant Darius Stone of the Mantis Warriors
(Telion Equivalent)

Darius Stone is old… how old is a matter of much speculation amongst the new recruits he guides, encourages and bludgeons into being worthy of assuming the role of full Space Marines, but it is certain he is the oldest living Mantis Warrior not encased within dreadnought armor. He was old before the rebellion of the Badab War, back when the Mantis Warriors fought side-by-side with the Ulramarines on Speculis 7 near the Tannhauser Gate during the Crux Campaign. He was old when he was granted special permission by Marneus Calgar himself to train and learn from Sergeant Telion. As the scoutmaster for the Mantis Warriors it was his duty to learn everything he could from Telion. Telion had perfected his role of master scout and trainer in service to the Ultramarines. With Telion's guidance Stone learned new skills, and used them to improve the training of the new Mantis Warrior recruits... then to his everlasting shame, saw them used in defiance of the Emperor during the Badab War.

During the "Dark Times" of the crusade, the scouts all eventually matriculated forwards into the body of chapter as full marines. With no new recruits, Stone was assigned to the Sternguard and served well until the chapter was recalled by the Inquisition. Though Stone relished his time with the esteemed cadre’ of veterans, many of whom he trained and served with on that fabled campaign… he longed for the challenge of molding young recruits into Space Marines once again. When the recall order came, no man in the chapter was happier than Stone.

Darius Stone has never been more important to the Chapter than he is at this moment. The Mantis Warriors were closer to extinction than anyone is willing to admit, and the future of the Chapter has been put squarely into his hands as Scoutmaster. His detachment, nicknamed the “Stone Cold Killers” now makes up the bulk of the Mantis Warrior tactical array, and is typically fielded in 3 squads. Stone himself takes command of a large sniper unit while the two other units are split into combat squads, ½ snipers, ½ close-assault mounted in Land Speeder Storms. All recruits take part in all aspects of warfare, so when they accept their responsibilities as full battle-brothers they can be assigned as needed and ensure the survival of the Mantis Warriors. But Stone IS old... and is known by his fellow marines not by the traditional term "battle brother", but by the term "battle father"... to signify the fact that most of the surviving members of the Chapter were trained by his hand, and his lessons in no small part, kept them alive during the Dark Times.

(Edited to fix some confusing phrasing... & a bit of added content)

Awesome stuff. Little snippets of fluff like this are why I am getting into this game.

I filed the symbol off his gun, ut the stalker pattern isn't just for telion to my knowledge, I think it is just a very rare modified bolter.

I like the fluff and the model looks good. To break up the green colour i would actually suggest a dark blue, but if done it doesn't really matter.

Keep up I to am enjoying your blogs!

Imp. Monkey

Looking great, only problem with the mantis arms is that the bent arm has the extended claw, and the extended arm has the closed claw, doesnt really make sense, they should close as you draw your arm back.

Scoutmater looking good, how about a grey cloak? Would look good!

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the support. I think I did a pretty good job with him (my kids like him too)... however, I'm always open to suggestions. So while I'll post a pic tonight of the finished model... it is my no means "done". Please feel free to suggest changes or modifications as you like. I'm not sure if I'm going to camo the cloak before I post the pic tonight or not... still very uncertain as to how I'm going to go about it. I have an idea, but it may not translate well and I'd hate to ruin the fig. The other thing I'd like to do for him is a hood, not that his head isn't cool... but it would help set him apart from other "Telions"... but that will also wait. Think I'm going to experiment on making hoods on other unpainted figs (use them almost like an armature) & if I like it well enough I'll transfer it over.

Push comes to shove I can always cover up the Ultramarine symbol on the gun with a purity seal, but I thought it was a nice little nod to the appearance of the Ultra's in my fluff for the character.


@Imp. Monkey: How would you use the dark blue? Put it on the inside of the cloak somewhere or did you have something else in mind?

@Xenith: I agree completely.... that was actually how I saw them working as well... not exactly sure how I screwed it up when I made the model... but it is just the prototype, I'll fix that for the rest of the squad (think I used plastic glue on the sword arms so he's pretty well stuck as is.)

You should totally make the hood for the Telion figure
It would look pretty cool..

The Camo cloaks are reactive I think, always changing to match their environment so painting them to match the base makes sense.....personally I'm not too fond of greenery stuck on cloaks unless your planning on doing ghillie suits for the whole sniper squad.

Loving the Scout Master fluff Gitsplitta, little things like that set blogs apart.

@BLACKHAND: I tend to agree, that's one of the reasons I didn't jump right into it & have been hesitating. Right now I'm thinking of trying to paint a rock-like pattern on the cloak to mimic the gravel & rocks on the basing. Maybe I can do abstract patches of color similar to that of the static grass. We'll see how it goes. Ghillie suits might be fun to do, but I'm not there yet. Perhaps I'll do one of the small sniper combat squads in "swamp" mode and the other in ghillie suits... Telion's squad would be more-or-less straight up. That way the really difficult stuff (water bases and ghillie suits) are only needed for 5 guys rather than 10. If I really like them of course, I can always make more later.

@DE: Thanks! Wish the inspiration would come more regularly. Usually I get these little flashes with my orks and I write 'em up for my kids... this is really the first time I've done one for my marines. It was fun to do... just kind of percolated around in my noggin for a day before I started writing it up, then about half-a-day of occasional editing and revising. I'm hoping I can come up with something for at least some of my other figures... maybe a character or two, the two vet squads & a dread or so. I know not to push it though... the good stories just kind of happen.

I like it! Some retouching and take into account the suggestions and it'll be good to go!

OK folks... for better or worse... here we are.

Front view...



Side view...



And from the rear showing my attempt to match the cloak to the base...




Fire away!

I really like it! The brown and green look amazing.

I like it! Great to see a stealth master who's not covered in highly visble blue armour that provides a nice bright target for enemies.

Are his eyes green? Thats dedication to camo-ism lol

Great camo on the cape and you made the right choice having his cape green on the inside.

Whats next?

The cloak came up aces 'spltta, glad to see that someone else likes ol' Telion he's a great model

Awesome as always - and this time, especially the camo cloak - fantastic!

@tony: Thank you! It was a group effort to be sure.

@Munch: I agree, it's always tough with marines because their liveries kind of eliminate the possibility of camo... luckily for my my chapter is based on a very stealthy insect.

@gretar: Actually, I never painted his pupils... it's where the black wash I put on the eye sockets bled through the whites a bit & gives him kind of a foggy grey/green pupil. Thought it was an appropriate image for an old fart space marine. He probably needs that contraption on his head just to read...

@alpha: Thank you so much... I was really worried about how it would come out, but it worked...


What's next?? Slave driver! Well, the immediate future involves lots of house cleaning to prepare for guests on Sunday (but there will be a 40k game with the guy who got me started in 40k 20+ years ago) and cub scout camping on Friday and Saturday.


OHHHHHH.... you mean what FIGURE is next? At the moment I only have one prototype remaining, that's the vanguard. He can cool his jets in pinesol or simplegreen until I'm ready to deal with him next week. Then I'll paint 'im up! Once he's done... I'll probably go back to the sternguard, finish painting the 3 others that are already built, then build and paint the rest of the squad. If I'm not sick of that camo pattern by that point, I'll do my Pedro Cantor equivalent next so I have a commander. Then.... if the parts arrive from over-seas, I'll begin work on my MoTF because I really need him to make the army work.

Beyond that, priority goes to those things that are required to make the army either look or play in-line with the vision we all worked on at the beginning of this blog. In essence...

LS Storms (2)
Non-sniper scouts (10)
Vanguard (10)
Venerable Dread
2 Drop Pods (dread & stern)
Jet Bike squadron w/ attack bike (RT land speeder)

I also bought enough extra sniper scouts to do a 5 man unit of swamp scouts and a 5-man unit in ghillie suits, but I actually have enough snipers to run the army without them. Those are just fun projects for next year's Adepticon (hopefully).

There are also some non-essentials that I'd like to do to give me a bit of flexibility...

Iron Clad Dread
Vulcan
TF Cannon
Tech & servitors
Command Squad
Assault Terminators

And their will be occasional re-painting of old dreadnoughts (I have 5), my terminators and my regular LS squadron.


This is, of course... a ton of work... but I think I can get through the essentials this year, in time to field some kind of finished, unique MW army at Adepticon next year, which is my immediate goal. By the year after that, I should have it completed.

Wow talk about goals! Im happy if I just get a few guys polished off in a week.
Sgt Stone looks like he is ready to get those damn orks off his lawn. lol.
Depending on what kind of mood the customs guy is in, they can get here in as few as 5 days to like 2 weeks (mine took 5 days).

Meh, the whole thing points out to around 6000 pts, but only about 3000 is really necessary... and I already own most of the models, so it's just a matter of re-painting.


Speaking of which, I wrote up a sample army list that I would like some feedback on. It's very fluffly, but by this time you guys know that fluff is the major driving factor for this army. That being said... if you have suggestions for improvement that are consistent with the theme and the fluff... please jump in. I certainly don't want to get my arse handed to me every time I play.


Pts: 1847

Tranquility Detachment
HQ: Pedro Cantor (will run with sternguard)
Elite: Sternguard (Tranquility Snipers) - 10, 2 HF, 3 combi-melta, srg w/ combi-flmr & power fist, drop pod w/ DWML
Elite: Venerable Dreadnought - TLAutoCannons, CCW, drop pod w/ DWML

Scout Detachment
Troop: Sniper Scouts (10) w/ Telion, ML, camo cloaks
Troop: Mixed Scout 1 - 2 combat squads, (ML, 4 snipers),( 4 bolt guns, Srg w/ combi-melta & PF), camo cloaks
Troop: Mixed Scout 2 - 2 combat squads, (ML, 4 snipers),( 4 bolt guns, Srg w/ bolt pistol & PF), camo cloaks
FA: LS Storm w/ MM
FA: LS Storm w/ MM

Longbow Detachment
Elite: Dreadnought w/ TL lascannons, ML, drop pod
Heavy: Thunderfire Cannon w/ tech marine


Notes:

- The drop pod for the Longbow dread exists solely to allow the sternguard and their dread to deploy simultaneously on turn 1 using "drop pod assault".
- Stone's (Telion's) snipers and the two sniper elements of the other units deploy rearward to hold objectives and provide suppressing fire, while the two other combat squads & sergeants load up into the LS Storms to outflank and cause issues in the enemy's rear.
- The Thunderfire gives a little template fire support & some interesting effects, as well as getting a Tech Marine onto the field, which is fluffy.
- I am uncertain of the configuration of the venerable given it's role in providing close-support to the sternguard, no question the autocannon is the most "fluffy" given that this is supposed to be a former tranquility sniper turned dreadnought... but I suspect an assault cannon would be a lot more useful.
- the army has effectively 6 scoring units... though 4 of them are small and rather fragile, and 5 of them can infiltrate

That Telion looks great mate. If that's the standard all your scouts will be painted to I eagerly awaite more.

That Telion is so cool it makes my eyes hurt.

Also, do you plan to use sentinels as an allied force?
They might fit the whole "jungle" theme well..

Thank you both. I am very wary that allied forces will be around for long, though there have been a couple of very good suggestions for such over the course of the blog. So at the moment... I'm sticking with a no-ally build. If events change my opinion... I'll change my build accordingly.

I don't really intend the army to be a jungle force, though I suppose that would make sense if they were still on their home world. I'm kind of doing the rocky grassland thing. Not a wasteland exactly, more of a high plain or steppe. The swamp scouts will be consistent with this theme, even though they'll be modeled in water. Not exactly sure how I'll do the Ghillie suits given this, but I have time to kick it around as that project is pretty far down the line.

Well, today I got a bunch of bits for the scouts (can someone please explain to me how I could buy enough bodies, heads and weapons for 20 scouts... and not buy a single pair of legs for them??). Also got a heavy flamer to use with the sternguard, couple of cool hanging banner thingies to use on my dreds... and a couple of other odd little bits that I have no idea why I bought them (at least they were cheap).

Also got my MoTF... or at least the figure I'm going to convert into the MoTF. Boy is he going to take some serious modification.. if done right though... he should be very cool.

Gitsplitta wrote:

Well, today I got a bunch of bits for the scouts (can someone please explain to me how I could buy enough bodies, heads and weapons for 20 scouts... and not buy a single pair of legs for them??).

LOL

Glad the model came in, pretty fast shipping from overseas IMO. Makes me a bit sad such a rare model will be chopped up, but looking forward to seeing him!

I'm still debating honestly... I still want to do the pre-herasy death guard... but that's so far down the road that by the time I get there, I'll be able to afford to buy another one. Problem is I don't really like any of the other options for a MoTF... and it just *begs* for a conversion (of course, because there's no MoTF figure). I think I've figured out a way to make him a little more sanely sized... the legs on the fig are rediculously long, so if I trim the tattered cloak strips that are modeled on the legs (no biggie) I think I can pretty seamlessly take a section out of each thigh... which should bring him a little closer to a reasonable size. He'll still be big, but if I model him right it might not be too noticible.

I'm crying blood. The painting is beautiful.

You shoulda ordered two! lol

Oy!! No bleedin' on the mini...

I'm happy with it. Still room for improvement, but I think I've come quite a ways in the last few months. Just going to be a long, slow process to give each fig this type of treatment... but at the moment, that's what I intend to do.

WM: Naah, at this point... one's enough. Once I get the legs fixed he'll be a pretty easy mini to convert. Arms, cloak and one leg are all separate so can be easily modified or swapped out as needed. Main issue will be inventing some convincing looking claws for the arms (dread and ork claws are wayyy too big). Probably just have to sculpt them out of green stuff.

Am I missing something? What was the fig you ordered in for the MOTF? or are you keeping it under wraps for the mo?

Did you get the Heavy flamer on its own, if so WHERE???!? I want to get one for my sternguard, but don't want to shell out £25 for the terminators box... yet.

That telion is amazing. Can't wait to see the camo cloaks on the regular snipers.

Gitsplitta wrote:
- I am uncertain of the configuration of the venerable given it's role in providing close-support to the sternguard, no question the autocannon is the most "fluffy" given that this is supposed to be a former tranquility sniper turned dreadnought... but I suspect an assault cannon would be a lot more useful.

Actually, I think TL LasCannon would be better in representing a former sniper, since they're long range, high accuracy, armour-piercing one-shot weapons...
Whereas the Autocannons fire in bursts, which doesn't make them much "snipy"...

Imperial Monkey wrote:Did you get the Heavy flamer on its own, if so WHERE???!? I want to get one for my sternguard, but don't want to shell out £25 for the terminators box... yet.

You can try with the new Legion of the Damned, they have a marine wielding a heavy flamer, available in a blister IIRC...

Why not use the heavy flamer from the cadian command squad sprue and do a bit of converting?

@Blackhand: Shhhhhhhh! The MoTF figure is a SECRET.... WM360 is just the one who pointed it out to me... though it was for something entirely different. When I start the conversion, I'll fess up.

@ImpMonkey: Ijust got the bits off of a bits trader on e-bay. Think it cost me around $6-$7. I think it's an IG heavy flamer... but once I'm done modifying (very minor) it, it should look just fine.

@warriors: Thanks. It may be a little bit as I've got my old painted snipers I can use in the interim and there are other units that I need for the army that aren't built or painted yet... but I might do a stop-gap fix and re-flock my original scouts & paint their cloaks like Telion's.

That Telion figure is EPIC! I need to stop staring at it before my eyes explode. Hope the MoTF is just as awesome!

Hey folks... got bit by the "blog page turns over and posts get lost for a while" bug....

@Yggdrasil: Good point, the las cannons would also be a good choice given the fluff. I'm just not certain what direction I want to go with it. In my current build, I know I can bring both pods down simultaniously in turn 1. The sternguard has a little bit of close-range anti-vehicle fire with the combi-meltas... but otherwise is primarily anti personnel. They're also a little light on h-t-h capability, though I'll run Pedro (and probably the MoTF) with them, so perhaps that's enough there. I'd thought about making sure the dread had at least one CCW to help them out in assault, but maybe the best thing a dread could do would be to open up whatever transport is nearest so the sternguard could take out it's occupants with fancy-schmancy bolter fire & flamers. In that case... perhaps TL las cannons and something else shooty on the left arm would be the better option. Thanks for the tip on the LoD flamer by-the-way.

@Blackhand: I think that may be where this came from originally, not sure. It's a nice flamer... should convert pretty easly though.

@obi-wan34: LOL! Between you and calgar I'm going to have a real mess to clean up... thanks though. Funny... when I look at it... perhaps because in my mind I see all the fiddly little intermediary steps... it's nothing special. I'm happy with it... don't get me wrong... but compared to some of the other stuff it the dakka gallery... *whew*! I am clearly painting at a different level than I was 6 months ago though... so that's cool. :-)

Ok, I can wait to see the MOTF...of course the more anticipation you build up the more awesome the model has to be!

On the Dread weapon loadout, have I suggested the two T/L autocannons? they crack most transports below AV14 and can mow though infantry as well and they are rarer than Lasdreads so cool factor +10.

@Blackhand: Yes you did, and I bought me one 'o them thar defensive aegis line kits so's I can kop da big gunz offa it & make me dread all shooty like.

... hmmmm.... slipped into Gitsplitta mode there.

Just exploring my options brother... just exploring my options.


What I'd really like is a dread with 2 assault cannons so's I can just hose down whatever's in front of me... it would be... orgazmic.

lol, maybe a T/L heavy bolter arm?..I'm pretty sure you can run one and it's kinda like a T/L Autocannon.

I've personally dropped the Lascannon-M/L combo on my GK dread in favour of the Autocannon, CCW and Incinirator loadout...theres something about having a dread skulking around the backfield sniping that is just so wrong, they're made to take fire and pound on things not ping lasfire off tanks!

Plus Incinirators are just plain cool

Gitsplitta wrote:
@Yggdrasil: The sternguard has a little bit of close-range anti-vehicle fire with the combi-meltas... but otherwise is primarily anti personnel. They're also a little light on h-t-h capability, [...] I'd thought about making sure the dread had at least one CCW to help them out in assault, [...] perhaps TL las cannons and something else shooty on the left arm would be the better option.

Actually, that was one of my non-fluffwise concern about your Turn 1-assault... Should the 3 Meltaguns single-shots fail (pretty much unlikely, of course, but still), Autocannons are a bit weak to deal with anything heavier than a truk... That's why Lascannons seem a safer choice for the Dreadnought... Plus, the fluff!!!

Gitsplitta wrote:
@Yggdrasil: Thanks for the tip on the LoD flamer by-the-way.

'Welcome dude... That's what we Dakkaites are here for anyway, aren't we?

What I'd really like is a dread with 2 assault cannons so's I can just hose down whatever's in front of me... it would be... orgazmic.

Wow... just wow. As creepy as that was I will still be eagerly waiting for more pcs!

"Don't scare the straights." eh, tony_nids?

LOL I got it... no more graphic visual images.

Awesome stuff! Totally inspirational! I read about the mantis warriors and thought they'd make for an awesome space marine army with a bit of flair, none of this
boring "I've fought this chapter a billion times" crap! And you seem to be doing awesome, the pics look great. Keep up the awesome work!

HAHAHA! You can't scare me man! Just too good of an oppertunity to pass up on a comment! I cant believe that BLACKHAND or Yggdrasil didnt beat me to it HAHA

Maybe you should make the servo-harness look like mantis arms...
You can do it with some eldar parts or something, and it would look really cool. However, are you going to use the head on the techmarine that Games workshop makes with all the servitors? because that head is the awesomest marine head ever

tony_nids_10 wrote:HAHAHA! You can't scare me man! Just too good of an oppertunity to pass up on a comment! I cant believe that BLACKHAND or Yggdrasil didnt beat me to it HAHA

Lol, I saw it...but I've said worse, far worse, so I didn't feel justified in having him up about it

BLACKHAND wrote:

tony_nids_10 wrote:HAHAHA! You can't scare me man! Just too good of an oppertunity to pass up on a comment! I cant believe that BLACKHAND or Yggdrasil didnt beat me to it HAHA

Lol, I saw it...but I've said worse, far worse, so I didn't feel justified in having him up about it

The arms on my Drazhar model look like those of a preying mantis? Perhaps a combination.

@Invention13: Thanks... it's going slowly... but it's going. I notice I get about two pages of chatting per image... by the time I'm done with my chapter I'll have to buy dakka another server...

@tnids: discretion is the better part of valor...

@pie: Great idea... but no... not what I have in mind. Be patient... time will reveal all. To be honest I don't know for certain how it's going to come out... I'm kind of rolling the die on an idea, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

@Blackhand: *grin* My best friend (more like a brother) and I have the same arrangement... we don't rip on each other because we've both seen too much together... we start going down that path and God only knows where it would end up. So we'll joke with others about the stupid things they did in their youth, or let them tease each of us... but our mutual history, stays history. After 35+ years of friendship we have wayyy to much dirt on each other to even start dishing out grief. Just better that way for everyone.

BLACKHAND wrote:

tony_nids_10 wrote:
HAHAHA! You can't scare me man! Just too good of an oppertunity to pass up on a comment! I cant believe that BLACKHAND or Yggdrasil didnt beat me to it HAHA

Lol, I saw it...but I've said worse, far worse, so I didn't feel justified in having him up about it

So you follow it up with another inuendo! Maybe my mind is just in the gutter...

@Gitsplitta- have you given anymore thought to the round joint idea for the chainsword vet weapons?

Yes, and I plan on doing it on the rest of them, I just can't change the prototype because I used plastic glue to put the little pieces on there so they're stuck permanently. The rest will have the circular joint.

I am greatly looking forward to seeing them!

tony_nids_10 wrote:I am greatly looking forward to seeing them!

seconded

Pads are being worked on, should see something this week or next for mantis pads

That's... exciting.

Almost as exciting as a dreadnought blazing away with twin-linked assault cannons.... *whirrrrrrrrr* (sound of mini-gun spinning, then the world erupts in fire and smoke)


Maybe I'll work on re-vamping my scouts first, build & paint the LS storms, venerable dread and drop pods... could even re-paint the rest of my dreads and land speeders to give the good boys at Chapterhouse time to finish up. OH, and perhaps make that MoTF too.

Will that satisfy everyone? I'm just thinking if I can occupy myself with other things while the shoulder pads are in production I won't have to replace shoulder pads later, I can just use the real one's from CH. And I obviously have a *lot* to do that won't require regular marine shoulder pads... so it's not like I'm wasting my time. The reason I ask you guys is that you've all become part of the project. Every aspect of it has been influenced by your input in some way or another, and I don't want to bore you by shifting away from the "exciting" squads like the sern & vanguards, commanders, etc. and going to the more mudane stuff. That being said... the Venerable, MoTF and re-painting my scouts to match Darius should be interesting projects... and the drop pods ans LS Storms are absolutely necessary... so no waste of time there either.

Thoughts? I'll finish the Vanguard prototype first of course... and finish painting the sterguard that are already built (so I can play with them)...but then it'll be wide open as to what I do next.

Eh, you can paint it all up now (barring the left shoulder) and just have a shoulder painting evening when they are ready.

I feel you though, I still have quite a few Salamander units to paint up and assemble to form my 3rd company. (about 75% done though).

Left shoulder? The old beakies had the studded pad on the left and the chapter badge on the right... has that flipped?

Yeah, standard codex is that the right arm holds rank or squad symbols and the left arm holds the chapter badge!

I believe the Mantis Warriors are a codex following chapter as well.

Chapterhouse wrote:Yeah, standard codex is that the right arm holds rank or squad symbols and the left arm holds the chapter badge!

I believe the Mantis Warriors are a codex following chapter as well.

Not sure I'd agree on that one for using older beakeys. Look at the Sons of Orar in the How to Paint SM book, they are backwards.

Huh thats quite interesting, I never thought about that one. Nice figure painting!

Son-of-a-gun.... I just checked my codex and it HAS flipped! Those SOBs!

Hmmm.... I'll have to think about that. My sternguard stay as they are as I'm using several old metal beakies that are modeled the old way. I guess I can see it either way... Back when the MW's were sent on crusade, codex had the pads flipped... then they were gone for 100 years & now it's changed... would flipping their shoulder pads be a big deal to them?

Probs not.

I laughed so hard at the first line..those sisters of Battle!

Darn thier domestic Space Marineing!

Keep the shoulder pads the same, there isnt a big difference.

Sorry I was a bit backlogged and I think that the ML, TL Las dread is a better choice for your army. with all those scouts and sternguard you prolly wont be too messed up by transports, but you will be messed up by AV 14 that you cant pop from far away. Missile Launcher is good as well because it lets you hit troops too if there is nothing else to shoot at. I vote that the dread gets deployed with your TF cannon (Im guessing you got all this already) then the pod comes in turn 2+ without anything in it, meanwhile your other pods drop in. Not a bad use of 35 pts IMO.

Camo on the snipers cloak looks fine, it looks a lot like flecktarn, the type of camo that modern German forces use.

Cool Stuff, Keep it up

@Gitsplitta- Where are those vets??

I swear I'm not impatient... Ok maybe I am but I really like the ideas you had for them!

Sorry tony... sometimes life gets in the way.. happens when you're 47. Mine is getting in the way at the moment. I promise I'll work on them as soon as I can.

Grey Knight Luke wrote: I vote that the dread gets deployed with your TF cannon (Im guessing you got all this already) then the pod comes in turn 2+ without anything in it, meanwhile your other pods drop in. Not a bad use of 35 pts IMO.

Ok, that's for sure a pretty interesting tactic in the WH40k GAME...

Still, I don't think I would see a SM commander "waste" an empty Drop Pod launch on a battlefield.

e.g. :



Tactical Briefing by Captain Gitsplitta : - "Ok, so Venerable Dreadnought Brother Alpha will be sent in the fray with Squad Invictus at 0600 local time.
Then, 15 minutes later, the wrath of the Holy Emperor will rain upon our foes with an direct Drop Pod assault on the enemy stronghold, led by Brother-Sergeant Furioso and its Sternguards, Brother-Sarcophagus Tempest, and erh... how do I put it? Ah, yes... A third, empty Drop Pod."

Brother-Sergeant Impetus, leader of the eager-to-be-committed-and-unleash-their-fury-but-kept-in-reserve-in-the-Holy-Battle-Barge squad: - "Excuse me, Brother-Captain, would you mind if we got a lift through that EMPTY Drop Pod?!?!?"



I mean, that is a good and not so expensive maneuver, but I thought that your Mantis Warriors were all about the fluff??? Just my point of view of course uh...

Still, Grey Knight Luke, thanks for seconding the TL Lascannon on the Dread...

Cheers!!

I'm just messing with you man. I completely understand how life gets in the way...

Mantis pads are being sculpted atm. I just managed to screw up the first attempt *sigh* but thay are salvagable.
They should be finished tomorrow unless my real job doesnt interfere...

Wonderful Pyriel, I have every confidence that they'll be choice when complete. You guys know what you're doing... I'll just stay out of the way and play the patron.

:-)




On a side note, the Vanguard figure melted after a week in pine sol, and I never was happy with the paint removal... even after the melting, so it's in the garbage and I'll just re-build it with several modifications when I'm ready to do the unit. For the nonce, I have several Sternguard primed and ready to go, so I'll start there. I'm not happy about losing the torso and head though... those were special aquisitions. I'll post progress as I make it. Good to be back in the saddle again...

Dude, simple green. never had a problem, and im lazy and leave dreadnoughts in there for weeks. Actually still in there......

Yep, you and Blackhand both are pointing me in that direction. Can get it locally so no problem. I hope to make some quick progress on the Sternguard... at least get everything painted that's already built (including yours) and Pedro.

Cool, cant wait to see him, feel free to put him up here, then people can give me a hard time on my conversion work for a change. lol
At least you have extra termi legs to play with!

Mornin' all. Been a lot of yakkin' and not much paintin' goin' on. So I thought I would post my progress to date... not much, but give the 12-14 hr days I've been working I'll take what I can get. Have a 4-day holiday weekend coming up and though a good part of it will be spent fishing... their'll be plenty of time for painting too.

So here's the second member of the Vanguard squad to get painted... it's an old metal beakie that I mocked up to go with my Tranquility Snipers. Got his armory yellow primer coat and has been washed with sepia to get me my dark base color. You guys will laugh... I had to dig all the way back to page 7 of the blog just to figure out how I'd painted the last one! Couldn't remember. There are a few spots I need to touch up the wash on yet, will get to those before I leave for work this morning.

i really need to get some of those old rt marines again ^_^

Are you planning on only using RT marines?

For the Sternguard... mostly. I have one black reach marine that I converted over, and will be giving nearly all of them either new legs or modified legs to increase their stature a little bit, but it is my thought that this particular unit would be nearly entirely RT.

Well get ta hackin up some more vintage marines already! I know youve got some!

Never fear... but I want to paint the one's I've built first, along with Pedro. Then I'll do all the specialists with the combi-meltas and heavy flamers and such. Should do something special for the sergeant... have to thing about that one. Any thoughts anyone?

Power Sythe?

No, no, no... saving him for something special. Might be a while... still a nebulous idea, but a goodun' I think.

Maybe you should make a specialized "Mantis Dreadnought" that has a giant chainsword arm that looks like a mantis arm, that makes all rending attacks

Wow! A mantis dread would be crazy!

Is there some dread that can actually do that? He wants to keep it codex playable.

Even without the constant rending, It would be a really fun idea to have such a specialized Dread.

Would make a nifty DCCW idea for sure. Maybe like the Chaos Dreads from FW, only bigger

It might be cool to have a slightly leaner dread, a bit more in line with an actual mantis. Does that make sense?

Check back on the thread, someone else mentioned that a while ago and posted a link to an astounding scratch-built preying mantis dread... way beyond my skills... but way cool.

Sergeant for my Sternguard just came in today... very neat fig. Not GW, but will fit in just fine. Very ornate... be a good "veteran sergeant for the veteran squad"... you'd have to be pretty spiffy to do that I think. Will add him near the top of the painting list. Hope to have some progress to show tomorrow.

Can you show us a pic? Like maybe from the website?

Here's a link to the site. With a bit of fiddling I can make him fit right in... drop the shoulder pads, add a GW gun arm & back pack, that should about do it. Pretty reasonable price for a nice fig.

http://www.sciborminiatures.com/en_,shop.php?art=911

Wow, that is a pretty cool guy.

Have a two-fer for you today. Got up in the wee hours (when you're in your 40's, the term "wee hours" has a little bit different meaning than it did 10 years ago)... and was inspired to paint! So I finished the yellow on two of my tranquility snipers. Figured it didn't take that much more effort to do two figures instead of just one, and that way I could let one dry fully before working on the second.

The guy on the left is a metal beakie from long, long ago. The marine on the right is a Blackreach figure. This one's a bit of an experiment as the rifle is actually made from a sniper rifle made to look more like a bolt gun, rather than a bolt gun made to look like a sniper rifle. It's not a perfect conversion... and there are a few things (looking at the side-by-side photo) I could have done to make it closer in bolt gun shape, but for a one-off experiment it's close enough.



Next I'll paint the non-yellow detail, give it a light coat of varnish to keep everything in place... then the camo pattern. Depending on how much energy I have later tonight, I may have another progress pick for you before bed.



So, it appears that my next post is in the inter-page limbo... so I'm adding a bit to this one just to see if I can make it appear...





....






Hmmmm... la la la....




.....



OK, so now I have two posts, with pictures in limbo...

Next shot. Pretty much done save for the camo & extra bits that are easier to add after the camo is on...






Automatically Appended Next Post:
The next two. The one on the right was cobbled together from bits by me, the neat one on the left was built by Whalemusic360.

I like Whalemusic360's guy. It's a good pose and little things like the knife blade under the barrel really add to the character. I can't wait to see the finished product.

They look pretty cool. Are they getting camo cloaks?

Not these guys, they're sternguard. Their armor is their camo (check back to page 7 to see one finished). I'll have the camo pattern, details added & basing done on these two before the holiday is over I think.

I really like the little blades that Whalemusic360 salted all over his build... I'll add some to mine eventually, but it's much easier to do the camo pattern without all the extra bits.

Yes that Whalemusic360 model is looking very good, although that bayonet on the rifle can't be used because of the length of the barrel, but hey, they are Space Marines...

I like the mix of older and newer models though, makes your veterans really seem like vets when they use the old models.

I like the kneeling guy, but i am not a space marine player but can vanguard take sniper rifles? or is it just a "because it looks sweet"?
Oh and i like the name.

Vanguards are the guys with the jump packs with bling. Those are sternguard. No, they can't take sniper rifles but they do have kraken ammo, which can be fired from 30" away. That's seems pretty close to a sniper rifle.

@Psycho_Mantis: Check out the earliest pages of the blog, it's all text, but in there is the discussion of the Tranquility Sniper unit (which was not made up by me, but was detailed in the 1st Ed. rule book). The Mantis Warrior Tranquility Campaign snipers are one of the first uses of the term "sniper" in relation to a space marine (there were no scouts as we currently know them back then), and they are depicted in full marine armor carrying a bolt gun. So... the Sternguard are pretty much a perfect fit... veteran marines, special long range ammo for their bolt guns, full armor. So, I've done what I can to make them look more "sniper like" by adding sniper rifle bits (scope, long barrel and flash suppressor) to their bolt guns, however they are not "scouts" in the true 5th edition sense of the word, so I resist the urge to go overboard with it. Lastly, the finished pattern for these guys is "Tranquility Campaign camo", so there is no need for anything like a camo cloak as they're already in camo. Granted the patter is for a distant galaxy far, far away... but for these veterans it's a badge of honor and service... no matter how impractical bright yellow w/ black plants silouetts actually is as camo.

Thanks guys! I added the older style combat knife on purpose. Its shorter, so no stabbing, but very wide, so I figured he could still slash with it if he runs out of ammo, which seems likely given they have been away for so long. Used some DE spikes to add to him and some plastic tubes from GF9 to make new barrels. Let me use up some of the bolters I messed up drilling out in a non-basing way lol. The bolter arm is from the older style marines that faced at less of an angle as current ones and the bolt pistol is from assault marines!

Now back to your regularly scedualed PMblog!

argh! you are writing too much!

Well, the barrel on Whalemusic's guy fell prey to the cat... however, I gave it a bit of an upgrade and replaced the plastic gun barrel with copper rod... suppressor fits perfectly.

Camo is done on both of the figs I'm currently painting, just finishing up the basing. I must admit that I'm pretty torn on adding the spiky bits. I guess I'm just not as sold on it as everyone else. I admit that Whalemusic's fig looks great with them... just can't seem to convince myself totally that it's the way to go on the snipers... seems very un-sniper like to have all these pointy bits sticking out, snagging on everything within range... Have to ponder it some more.

They are 9 foot tall yellow guys. I think the form over function ship has sailed. Would you put a scrap of paper and some wax on a flame thrower? A space marine would be honored. SPIKZEZ!!!!

Dang cats......

LOL... love that "ship has sailed" bit. OK, in spite of my reservations, appropriate spikey-bitz have been added. But now you guys will have to wait longer to see them as I have to carefully paint all the new bits.

Drrrrrrrrr... cats... It's a good thing that the copper rod fit right, I have had that problem before.

Please excuse the, er, innuendo.

Just thought I'd post a semi-funny photo. Just goes to show that battle brothers will go to any lengths to help one another... in this case, one Sternguard is holding the other's grass in place while it dries... :-)



On another note, their might be a brief interruption in your regularly scheduled Sternguard production as all the parts for my Trianquility Sniper Veteran Dread have arrived!! Might not be able to contain my irrational exuberance long enough to finish the other two sternguard before taking on the dread (sorry Whalemusic... won't be long). We'll see at any rate.

Yggdrasil wrote:

Grey Knight Luke wrote: I vote that the dread gets deployed with your TF cannon (Im guessing you got all this already) then the pod comes in turn 2+ without anything in it, meanwhile your other pods drop in. Not a bad use of 35 pts IMO.

Ok, that's for sure a pretty interesting tactic in the WH40k GAME...

Still, I don't think I would see a SM commander "waste" an empty Drop Pod launch on a battlefield.

e.g. :



Tactical Briefing by Captain Gitsplitta : - "Ok, so Venerable Dreadnought Brother Alpha will be sent in the fray with Squad Invictus at 0600 local time.
Then, 15 minutes later, the wrath of the Holy Emperor will rain upon our foes with an direct Drop Pod assault on the enemy stronghold, led by Brother-Sergeant Furioso and its Sternguards, Brother-Sarcophagus Tempest, and erh... how do I put it? Ah, yes... A third, empty Drop Pod."

Brother-Sergeant Impetus, leader of the eager-to-be-committed-and-unleash-their-fury-but-kept-in-reserve-in-the-Holy-Battle-Barge squad: - "Excuse me, Brother-Captain, would you mind if we got a lift through that EMPTY Drop Pod?!?!?"



I mean, that is a good and not so expensive maneuver, but I thought that your Mantis Warriors were all about the fluff??? Just my point of view of course uh...

Still, Grey Knight Luke, thanks for seconding the TL Lascannon on the Dread...

Cheers!!

Ouch. I just want to point out that there are empty drop pod assaults that DO happen in the W40k universe. Now would it be fluffy for the mantis warriors? maybe not. However, tactically it gives more flexibility to the force at large allowing for an extra drop pod to drop turn 1. So it may make the game a lot better.

No worries. I havent got around to my Sternguard or their Pod yet either (The sniper is going to be hangin with some BA untill i figure out what to make the other 4 sterns with).

OK, here is Tranquility Sniper #2 done. Combat blades on the gun and right forearm, chainsword tooth "ornamentation" on thigh-plates and left forearm. I know the camo pattern on the face is a bit weird... didn't quite turn out the way I wanted... Looks a bit bird-like... but what-the-hell... he's a "beakie" after all! I painted the combat blades black as they'd kind of match the camo pattern that way.



I'm in the process of "upgrading" the first TS with pointy-bitz, and should have #3 finished tomorrow night. Then I'll make all of them stand for a "group photo".

Edit: New pic... noticed some flaws that needed to be fixed and figured the back view wasn't much... so I went for a better front view. - GS

I like the camo face actually. Kinda tribal lookin.

Yeah I'm liking the face camo as well, makes sense to mix it up a bit as well. They wouldn't all have their camo in the same place

I love it! The blade on the barrel of the gun is a really cool touch.

I like that curved Bayonett you've gone with there, what did you use to make it?

The bayonette (and I try to make them stick out a bit from the suppressor but it doesn't always work) and the fore-arm blade (which you can't really see in this pic) are the two blades from the standard dark eldar gun. Whatever it's called...

Splinter Rifle

I actually like that it doesn't stick out. being that CC is not in the spirirt of " snipers " should they be doing their job correctly. However still adds a nice touch to the model. Toughens the look up.

Ps...I like the camo. I think you should do assault troops in this paint scheme

That looks really awesome. The bird-likeness is actually something to be emphasized, not avoided. it sort of adds that kind of "predatory" feel. Also, the bayonet would look really cool if it stuck out a little bit more.

Hope to have one more for you tonight (just need to do the basing), then probably a hiatus while the misses recovers from surgery.

@Solar_lion: I agree with you that it's a neat camo pattern, and I've already expended the models that will get it to 1-2 sternguard, drop pods for same, veteran dread, drop pod for same and my Pedro Cantor equivalent (chapter master). If I make everything tranquility pattern though, they won't be special anymore... plus SOMETHING had to look preying mantis like. As such... I have other plans for my assault squads.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Chapterhouse debued (sp?) the model for my Mantis Warrior shoulder pads!

You can find two photos at the following thread:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/297880.page

I am very pleased with the result. Nick and company have been a breeze to work with, and were very responsive to my ideas. The new head design is based off a photograph of an actual preying mantis, which I then styalized & passed on to Chapterhouse for tweaking. The chain border has special significance. As a medieval knight would wear a golden chain around his neck as an outward symbol of his fealty to his lord, so too do the MW's wear a gold chain as an outward symbol of their loyalty and dedication to the emperor.

I think it looks pretty spiff.

Like the chain idea. - Imagine that

Sorry I don't have the actual pictures loaded, I'm doing this from my phone so my photo options are limited.

Gah, False hopes!

Oh for pity's sake man just follow the link!

(sigh)

Already saw em, thought you had some already.

LOL! Unfortunately no... just approved the design. Be a while yet before I have them in my hands. Plenty to do until then. Have about 5 dreads to either re-paint or paint... That will keep me plenty busy.

Did you commission them, or did they happen to see the blog?

Nick saw the blog & approached me, I jumped at the opportunity to comission the work. Not sure what attracted Nick to the project... you'll have to ask him.

Cool! Now, you just need some Doom Eagle pads lol.

OK, back at my home computer rather than my cell phone... here are proper photos of the pad prototype.





- GS

Wow is that chain link all GS? Very very smooth execution!

Nice greenstuff chain you got goin on there

All I did was pick it out... it's the artists at Chapterhouse that are in charge of the execution. But you're right... the chain is sweet.

Agreed. I may need a green guy with new pad. Just gotta come up with more stuff to send ya!

Thanks for the bump whalemusic...

New sternguard... "group photo" will be up in a minute...



And the afore-mentioned group shot...

I still think the white studs on the shoulder pads are too stark, maybe black (to match the camo) or red (to match the eyes)? (Or is it some sort of SM thing? I'm an Ork player...) Otherwise, they look fantastic. I wish I could put stuff together and paint it that fast and to that level!

It's a 40k history thing... if you look at the original artwork and earliest 'eavy metals (before they were called that), alll the shoulder pads had white studs. It was the style. I could however, try washing them with the pale wash I have used on white successfully before... it might give them a little depth and tone them down a touch.

Yeah, a wash would be really cool, but it really doesn't matter that much.
Also, i'm really liking the bayonets

I tried the wash on the guy on the right who has the most noticeable studs, unfortunately on that scale it didn't really accomplish much, they're so small. But, I suppose it did tone them down a bit. Kids and I are playing a little game today, I put the 3 fully painted sternguard with the two that are just washed and am using Pedro as my sergeant (temporarily)... even with all the barely painted figs in the unit they look good together. Think this squad will be a keeper.

Love the sternguard! Will look fantastic with some green brothers

What's next on the agenda? And when do we get to see the MotF?

What's next? I'm currently building the tranquility pattern venerable dread, and I'll be painting the last two sternguard & Pedro (also in tranquility colors).

After that, I'll probably need a break from the camo pattern. I need two LS Storms and some bolter armed scouts to pull off the kind of army I want, so they'll probably be next. The MoTF is probably going to wait for a while as he will require a lot of thought, planning and major fiddling. He will eventually happen, but it will probably be quite some time.

Once the new shoulder pads come in, I'm sure I'll be building something with them... have a full devastator squad armed with the original plastic beakie missile launchers lined up. Vanguard will be high on the list as well.

Wait are there SM in those pictures?? I can't see them 'cause of their fantastic camouflage...

...anywho...I like the underslung blade, and I do like the camouflage, these guys are really coming together!

I really like your use of older models (and their parts), looking forward to more

whalemusic360 wrote:Agreed. I may need a green guy with new pad. Just gotta come up with more stuff to send ya!

Don't need more stuff, but I'd be willing to trade painting for your figure building skills... a "fresh look" piece or two mixed in with my stuff would be a welcome addition.

Gitsplitta wrote:

whalemusic360 wrote:Agreed. I may need a green guy with new pad. Just gotta come up with more stuff to send ya!

Don't need more stuff, but I'd be willing to trade painting for your figure building skills... a "fresh look" piece or two mixed in with my stuff would be a welcome addition.

You, sir, have a deal. Gotta be me some more beakys first tho.

I don't blame ya waiting on the MotF. Thats a pricy model to just start hacking up!

@Limbo: Thank you... they'll come eventually. Just a slow process getting from here to there. Playing with my kids is almost comical because in my mind I have all these units already figured out, but I don't have them done yet... just piles and piles of bits. But my vision of my army is so clear, that when I build my army in Army Builder, I build it like I have all my units already done... then I have to go back and un-build it to account for the fact that I don't have most of it done yet.

@steempunk: *grin* Thanks. Their will be a lot more older models... with some twists... and some new ones too! Neat thing about the fluff (both the original & that we developed for the chapter early on in this blog) is that it leaves plausible room for both.

@whalemusic: If you need parts... I have TONS. Just ask.



Here are a couple of shots of my venerable dreadnought in his two most likely configurations. Body and assault drill are from Forgeworld, autocannons are from the Aegis defense Line set. All magnetized. His torso is just resting on the legs so the exact final pose has yet to be determined... I kind of like the "cocked to the side a bit" look though.

What kinda units do you need built still?

Looks cool, but I think you should give it a more "hunter"-ish feel. Also, I don't think the autocannons are codex legal, but they're awesome.

Kind of reminds me of a battletech unseen Rifleman.

Great log.

1) What wash did you use to shade the white?
2) Do you have a pic of it post wash?
3) Would the wash have been more effective on a primarily white mini?

Any answers would be appreciated as it's all research for:
<---------

Why are the autocannons not legal, i'm pretty sure they're bang on. Look awesome too!

Yeah double AC's are codex legal *at least they are in space wolves* but looks great so far.

Clap clap clap

Wow, those are actually legal somewhere?
Also, they could count as lascannons if the opponenet is being a d-bag

They are legal in codex, SW and BA, just not DA or BT


Automatically Appended Next Post:
WTF, I cant see my own post(s)?!?! But I know its there, im the last respondent!

Considering your skills...

Well, for the sternguard I need 3 guys with combi-meltas, two heavy flamers and a sergeant (decided to use the fancy guy as a chapter champion or standard bearer) with a combi-weapon (flamer or melta) and a power weapon of some sort. I have all the bits needed, including extra meltas and heavy flamers.

Of course there's the vanguard with the mantis-like arms too... though it's going to take some fiddling with the design yet to get it right.

The only "standard greens" I've got in the que are a squad of dev's and some veterans for my command squad. I've got the 4 old ML's for the dev squad, but nothing else lined up.

Consider it all fair game.

Yeah, it's legal. Ven. dread army list entry states that you can take an autocannon for the multi-melta arm and replace the dread cc arm with an autocannon.

Ok, I've got some cool ideas in my head. I go on vacation on Wed, but once I get back, Ill let ya know and we can get crackin!

That Autocannon dread looks hot man, I may have to bite ther bullet and build one myself

Wow... I didn't see any of the follow-up posts until just now... they all got lost in the page roll-over.

@Generalstoner: Yeah, the double autocannon version really does look like a rifleman, good call.

@Gamble: I use valejo "pale wash". Here's a shot from my gallery, it's a photo of one of my son's terminators that has the pale wash on larger white areas... I think it worked quite well. And yes, the pale wash works better on larger surface areas.


And as several people have already mentioned, double autocannons are indeed legal in the vanilla marine dex.

Here's a quick shot of the final pose (keeping in mind that I can trade out the arms as needed). I'll probably put a heavy flamer under the assault drill eventually (will just count it as CCW, but love the look of the drill). There will be more stuff added to the dread, this is just the basic build. I like poses that show motion, and this dread will have it before it's all over. You guys know by now that I just can't stand to field a "stock" model if there's any possibility of fiddling with it...



The leg orientation to the body in this shot is actually what I was aiming for in the beginning... just had to wait until I was ready to glue it together.

Wow, that's really neat. Are you going to use the same grass in this dread as you used in the snipers? I think it would look pretty cool next to the arm

Yep, the base will be consistent with the tranquility sniper bases... just added the big rocks for some interest on the big base. Should be a lot of fun to do and a good compliment to the sternguard unit. Think I'll finish up painting the last two sternguard before I tackle this puppy... going to be a lot of fun to do, especially if I do a good job on the extras.

Vitruvian XVII wrote:Why are the autocannons not legal, i'm pretty sure they're bang on. Look awesome too!

The autocannons are legal, if you have two of the twin-linked autocannons, the dreadnought is called a Rifleman Dreadnought.

Im really getting to like the mantis warriors, I like the venerable dreadnaught.

Like the pose alot. the gun forward and weight on the back leg gives the feeling that it is setting up a shot. like spear fighters do in a line formation

You said you took the AC of the Aegis defense Line set. so you have any spares. I'd like to do something simular

Unfortunately you only get one pair of guns in the aegis set, and I was hoping to keep the other gun so I could do the double armed auto-cannon thing if I wanted to.... (as posted in the earlier shots). If it looks like I'll never use it that way, I'd be happy to share the other gun... but at the moment I think I'm going to hang on to it.

your mantis warriors kick ass. i love the snipers and the vanguard. was the venerable dread hard to put together or does the AC from the aegis set fit together easily?

Thanks Dragoons!

To make the AC fit right against the body takes a bit of work, especially if you add magnets into the mix. If you were just going to pin them in place & glue them it would be no big deal, but if you magnetize them like I did, you need to route out depressions to hold the magnets so everything lines up appropriately. I just finished realigning both ACs and now the "rifleman" variation looks sweet!

Awesome, i'd love to see some pics of where the magnets are placed. and the finished painted dread.... and the rest of the army... no pressure lol

Sure Dragoons, here's a few pics & my notes on the process.


When making something an linear as the "Rifleman" variation it's very important to try and keep things as parallel and perpendicular (relatively speaking) as possible. Under normal circumstances, you don't have to worry about this as the pegs and recesses in a normal dreadnought and weapons take care of this for you. If you're going to go "off the reservation" however, these simple tasks can present considerable challenges. I don't offer this as a tutorial for reasons that will soon become apparent, but perhaps you can learn from my mistakes. While my first build looked good from certain angles, it really had some glaring issues with gun alignment, so I decided to attack it again.

I used the largest magnets I had (1/4" I think) so I wouldn't have issues with the arms sliding to their natural balance point. On the left arm, I started by simply gluing a magnet onto the body at weapon mount.


I then had to recess the opposing weapon magnet into the body of the weapon. I have a roto-tool that allows me to do this fairly easily, but it still takes a bit of careful work to enlarge and deepen the recess for the magnet.


On the right side (from the dreadnought's perspective), I got smart and decided to sink the magnet near flush with the weapon mount as there is a lot of material to work with here (resin model).


The original magnet on the gun was a fairly simple install with just a little of the gun's structure removed to accommodate the magnet & a little green stuff to bolster the middle, however I'd mounted at an angle, and my mounting of the body magnet was also at a considerable angle (I know it doesn't look like it in the photo above, but every degree off gets magnified by those long guns) so I had to remove the old magnet and rout out enough material to compensate for the angle of the body magnet. By the time all was said and done, the weapon magnet was recessed so much that I actually had to add a second magnet to the weapon to get the spacing right. Not my brightest moment... If you're curious as to the black paint on the magnets, I found that they reflected light so brightly that it fooled me into thinking they were more prominent that they actually were, which was complicating the whole process.


Here's the top view of the finished product... pretty close. the right gun is kicked out a little bit on top but you don't notice it under normal circumstances. The paint job should "confuse" the visual picture enough that minor issues like this effectively disappear.


And here... is the money shot. Too bad no one will ever see it from this angle, think it shows the pose and rifleman configuration off to it's greatest advantage. I think the right arm is slightly lower than the left... I suppose if I'd actually PLAN things out rather than just diving into them I'd have less alignment issues... but it's my nature... What can you do? *shrug*

That dread is awesome... man thats alot of autocannons to deal with keep it up man great thread.

It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to look cool, and i have to say that you've achieved that goal. Keep going, your mantis warriors look awesome!

First installment of the fluff for my MoTF...


Davion Firth – Master of the Forge, Mantis Warriors

Davion Firth was, by anyone’s estimation… a giant. Not the 40’ high monstrosity of legend, or a misshapen, mindless hulk like the ogryn used by the Imperial Guard. Firth was a perfectly formed human being…. Just one that stood near 8’ tall, with breadth and girth to match. While this may sound unusual, in truth it was not all that surprising. Firth came from a small human colony on a remote planet in the Rassnar sector. Due to a combination of low gravity, unusual solar radiation and certain nutrients in the soil… each successive generation of colonists grew slightly larger than the last. While the colonists stopped “enlarging” many generations ago, they now stand a proportionate 2’ taller than a normal human.

While this would seem like a perfect fit for space marine recruiting, it is the low gravity of the planet that makes giantism viable for the colonists. Once taken off-world, they weaken quickly, and if pressed physically… have a tendency to die of heart failure. About once a generation however, a colonist is born which such toughness and resilience that they can function in full gravity. Their heroic feats amongst their own people become legendary, and a call is sent out to the Mantis Warriors that a new space marine has been found. Davion Firth, was such a man.

While Firth was not the first colonist to attempt to join the Mantis Warriors, he was the first to survive the trials of initiation and surgical alterations to become an actual marine. His custom made space marine armor included special panels which provided doses of radiation similar to that of his home world as well as special dietary supplements also from his home world. These kept his body from weakening and deteriorating in full gravity. His natural size, augmented and reinforced by surgery and power armor made him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. It was assumed that one day Firth would join the Vanguard, as he was a monster in close combat. His natural size and strength augmented by his armor, extra glands, etc… set him apart even amongst The Emperor’s Finest.

It became quite clear however that Firth had other talents besides slaying the foes of the Imperium. His armor, unusual in its size and function proved to be quite a fiddly bit, and had more performance issues than the standard armor configuration. Weather it was simple self-preservation or true interest in mechanics, Firth was often seen making field repairs to his own armor, tweaking it, adjusting it, making it more adaptable and versatile. While no one thought twice about the field repairs, when firth started altering the armor from its original configuration to something new, it started to raise eyebrows, and amongst certain members of the Adeptus Mechanicus were rumblings of heresy.

The Mantis Warrior hierarchy contemplated and debated, along with input from Firth’s commanders, the company chaplains and tech marines. Finally a compromise was reached. While there was no indication that Firth’s actions had heretical intent, they were on the surface… unacceptable. Therefore, in order to ensure that his natural tendencies did not develop into heresy, Firth would be trained as a full Tech Marine… with all the attendant indoctrination and instruction that goes with it. In that way, his skills and abilities are not lost to the chapter… and the discipline and methods he learns will keep him from straying off the “approved” path.

hey Git, I like the fluff but you may have to change your numbers. Space Marines are already more then 8' tall. If you want your guy to be a giant in space marine terms he needs to be a lot larger then that. I am trying to remember how tall they are already, I want to say its like 3 meters tall or something. In a lot of the stories normal humans only come up to their chests. Wouldn't 3 meters almost be 10' tall?

Any ways, i dont want to nitpick I just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

By the way I just finished up that deathwatch book. It's an alright book, I think the Mantis Warrior side of the story was the best part. You should check it out. It's a quick read only like 200 pages.

Good point... I can amend the fluff accordingly... but space marines don't start their lives that tall... they get that way through augmentation. I figure if he started the process a good 2 feet taller the average, after augmentation he'd probably be 2-3' taller than a normal marine. Should have made that more clear in the story... thanks for pointing it out.

Does kind of make the "true scale" point though doesn't it. Seeing appropriately sized space marines on the table towering over their opposition would really be an impressive site, and would be a psychological boost when spending lots of points for them (even if you didn't perform any differently than normal). Just too much work to do the conversions... though I hold Sons of Orar in highest regard for the work he's done.


Still haven't gotten that book, will have to order it online as the FLGS doesn't carry black library as a matter of course. It's been mentioned that Goto isn't the best author, but I'll reserve my judgement until I read his tale. :-)

A very nice thread, i finally made it to page 17 and it was worth it, looking forward to seeing more of the minis painted, especially the mantis chainsword dude keep up the good work

@Young_Logan: Thanks! Nice to see the thread is still worth muddling through. There will be plenty more painted mini's... I just needed a bit of a break from painting. I'm not "professional" enough to be able to crank these out day after day. Need just a little bit of inspiration to keep me going, which occasionally requires that I set things aside and do something else (fishing with the kids, spending a day with the smoker making brisket and ribs), you know... normal people stuff. Think I've re-charged my batteries enough over the last few days to dive back into my painting... so I hope to have something fun to show over the next few days.

I know the feeling, even though it is my favorite part of the hobby

"normal people stuff"? HERESY!!!

on the more serious side, though, fluff sounds good. can't wait to see the MoTF. What "mantis-warrior-y" changes can we expect to see

I'll be honest... there's nothing much "preying mantis-like" in my current ideas for the MoTF. I know that'll disappoint a lot of you who've been looking forward to some kind of fantastical mechanized insect to appear, but at least for this character, I have something else in mind. I think I have a good story, plausible background, and a very unique fig and build in mind that to my knowledge no one else has done before (at least I can't find examples in the dakka archives). As such, I'm going to keep the details to myself at least until the build is underway. There will probably be one more piece of fluff, then I'll hold off until I'm ready to begin construction. I have no idea if I can pull the build off or not... so I hope I'm not building up expectations for a big let-down later, but I will do my level best and believe the MoTF will be a very fluffy and characterful addition to the chapter... if not a particularly insectoid one. You guys will just have to trust me on this one.

You know, having modified a servo harness for a Big Mek, I think a techmarine would be a *perfect* opportunity for something more preying mantis like.

I don't disagree... and I will have at least one other techmarine in the chapter that will see the field frequently... so as my modeling skills improve... who knows what the future may hold? ;-)

Finally, a little bit of progress. Got up early this morning and got the primary armor color down on one of the sternguard (on the right). Takes 2-3 dilute coats to get to this point... about 35 min of painting time I guess. Have it next to WM360's which has the base & wash but not the color-up yet for comparison. Once again, I haven't added any of the spikey bitz yet, they'll come later after the blending and camo are done.



For some reason this shot reminds me of the opening artwork for the old detective series "Charlie's Angels". All I need is Kate in the back & we'd be all set. I had the *worst* crush on Jacqueline Smith... oy!

Hello, threads still going great guns, well done! Having read the CS Goto short in the latest black library Space Marine compilation I was wondering if anybody had mentioned it to you, or you'd read it yourself?

It's not bad for Goto really... He has mentioned a unit of marines who have almost pre-cognitive reactions due to a heightened mental state or gene-seed irregularity. I was thinking that it was maybe an excuse to create a Death Companyesque Mantis unit. Not exactly the same but similar.

Any thoughts?

Hey geordie09! IceAngel has been keeping me updated. I do want to read Goto's work, though I must admit the fact that he gets panned by most folks has held me back. I think my vanguard is going to be the closest thing to what you're talking about. Look back several pages and you'll see a prototype build. They'll be slightly closer to true-scale than normal, will have "mantis like" CCW which I'll probably count as lightening claws. They're vet's too... so I guess that's about as close as I can get to Goto's ideas within the normal rules. I have never considered Death Company... is there something about them that make them particularly appropriate in this regard?

Unfortunately being summer with children and lots of other responsibilities to attend to, my painting progress has slowed considerably... but I'll keep banging away at it. I welcome any ideas and suggestions you may have... the feedback I've gotten over the months of the blog has been invaluable and has greatly influenced the direction I've taken the chapter and my figures.


On a "strategic build" note: I've been thinking ahead to the drop pods that I'll need to pull off this army. I don't know about you guys, but in my FLGS almost no one fields a fully painted drop pod or even a fully built one because the flop down doors interfere so much with game play. Since I intend to give the pods the same quality of painting treatment that I'm giving everything else... I need to figure out a way to modify them in order to make them a playable model. My current thought is to split the doors about 1/3 of the way up, with short steep ramps going down and the top 2/3 raising up, either swinging on a pivot like a gull wing door or just rising straight up. That way the "footprint" of the open pod is small enough to keep it playable & I can keep my hard work on the table. Small hinges are available, so that's not a problem, and I'd just use little pieces of metal rod to hold the doors in the upright position. Lastly, I think I'll get Chapterhouse's pre-heresy drop pod armor to give them some character, & I can use the "lames" in their armor to help disguise the door splits. If it wasn't for the hassle of transporting them that way... I could probably just glue them in the permanently open position, which would make building them one heck of a lot easier.

Thoughts?

One quick comment. The Canoness can't validate geneseed, that is done by the Adeptus Mechanicus. I like the fluff of the Canoness but maybe also add in a mechanicus guy, either as a techmarine, or just as another "basic" marine in the command squad.

Warmaster: I have no objections... I wanted a lot of techmarines in my army anyway for the fluff and feel, would be delighted to have a good reason to have one in the command squad, I even have a perfect figure from the RT era for the duty. I think the bit you're referring to was based on so some really old (20+ yr) fluff. Since that's the origins of my history with this army I tend to gravitate back to it. Unfortunately my original rule books have long since deteriorated into dust and been lost, so I'm dragging these things out of my rather questionable long-term memory.

Is it possible to easily magnetise the drop pod doors - opening them if you have room or leaving them closed if you don't? Even better - perhaps do away with the hinges altogether and use the magnets to attach/detach them? The added advantage is that you can transport them separately if need be. I'm currently magnetising all the Ork Trukk and Deffkopta options, and I am finding it easier for gaining access for painting as well as breaking down for transportation... Just a thought!

Hmmm.... food for thought. I've been enjoying reading your thread & seeing you work on the trukk... so I really appreciate your input. Let me think on that for a while. This army's going to need 3 pods at a minimum... so there's some room to experiment. Maybe I'll do a straight magnetization of the doors of the first one, then when I have that experience in the bag I can consider more drastic modifications on the other two.

I like the split option. Unique and creative. would kinda make sense with the word " Pod" thou figuring out how to utilize the weaponry on the pod with the split make it a challenge.

so... what groups of colors are you using to do the green mantis warriors in?

Look at the last post on page 4 of the blog, it explains it all w/ a photo...

The mantis warrior on the left has true grit, doesn't he? Nice story by the way and how are the custom shoulder-pads going?

I like the idea of magnetising the doors as you can fluff that with the explosive release charges they use for quick clearance... like the canopy release when a pilot ejects!

The Death Company count as troops for Blood Angels and they have a few other things which could be a drawback or advantage dependant upon your mindset... I think they have rage at times and furious charge. But fluff wise it's their gene-seed which changes them into psycho marines basically!

The Mantis Warrior fluff out of the Deathwatch books explains that certain Mantis Warriors of the Mantidae have the ability to access a certain part of the brain which will allow them to gain such extreme focus that they can almost see the future. In doing so they have heightened reflexes and are extremely fast, however once they have turned this ability on they can never go back to their original way so they will forever be extremely focused. In essence they gain super senses and speed but it turns into a kind of tunnel vision so they don't see the big picture. They wont even see allies unless they join into their combat. In Mantis Warrior armies there will be a small group of these Mantidae that are lead by someone who is still normal so they have something to focus on.

It would be very death company-esque in game rules but fluff wise they are just a group of focused marines that are handicapped until they get into close combat. Once there they are ridiculously effective.

How about making the drop pod doors open upwards? it would get rid of the whole starfish footprint, while still looking semi-plausible..

pie_2054 wrote:How about making the drop pod doors open upwards? it would get rid of the whole starfish footprint, while still looking semi-plausible..

And look like Sponge Bobs house!
But seriously, at least if its sunny they could chill in the shade.

Gotta have at least enough ramps to get down to the ground out of the pod, and cutting the doors right at the bend works perfectly for this. Conversely I could model them onto a little terrain bit and set it so that the pod is "burried" about an inch down in the ground (i.e. cut the bottom part off), that way I wouldn't need the ramps at all as the guys could just step out of the pod onto the ground around them.

Or they could surely leap/jump/vault?

I know! I could model little yellow inflatable hook-on slides like they have for emergency exits in an aircraft! *grin*

You sir have inspired me to start up a Space Marine army

Hmmmm.... must have been the inflatable slides idea....


@Imperial: Start a P&M Blog, get ideas and help. Seriously, I have a very clear idea of what I'm doing and how I'm going to get there, but it never would have happened without all of the input you've seen on this blog. My painting skills have improved, my fluff has clarified, my building skills have improved and I've made a bunch of new friends who are very talented and are willing to share what they know. The Dakka community is a great one, give people some ideas and models to chew on and you'll be rewarded 10-fold. And when you start, feel free to post an announcement here so folks can swing by and see what you're up to!


On a side note, I'll be trotting out my nascent Mantis Warrior this afternoon in hopes of getting a couple of pick-up games at our FLGS (The Last Square, Madison, WI... great place) while the urchins are apocolypsing their brains out. Since we're having a 1250 pt tournament next weekend, I thought it might be easier to get some pick-up games at the 1250 pt level... even though I won't be playing this army myself because it wont' be fully painted (I have my standards).

I call this list "Total Insanity"... and it's mostly for looks... pretty much a Space Marine gun line with almost no mobility or assault capability... but it'll be fun to see on the table.
(this is from memory so I may have a detail or two wrong)

HQ: MoTF (using on old tech marine fig at the moment)
Elite: Sternguard (8), 2 ML, srgt w/ PF
Elite: Dreadnought, assault cannon, CCW w hvy flmr
Troop: Scouts (10), camo cloaks, ML, Telion
Troop: Scouts (9), camo cloaks, HB, srgt w/ PW
Hvy: Dreadnought, TL-LC, ML
Hvy: Dreadnought, TL-LC, ML
Hvy: Rifleman Pattern Dreadnought (2 autocannons)
1250 pts.

Actually it's possible that the smaller of the two scout squads does not have the cloaks... can't remember if I had the points or not.

Ah.. the old school army... a good army if your going to plan on killing everything and anything that moves... so I like it alot!

inflateable side.. ouch.. Double dog dare ya! just make sure you have an appropriate guardsmen at the foot end to help them off. ( female would be my choice ) - but to each their own.

Well, I'd call it a static gun line except that with the exception of the scouts, everything else can move and shoot. In theory, the scouts can be combat squadded (one squad anyway) and "deposited" wherever I want them via infiltrate and scout move, so they shouldn't need to move much after that. Dreads and sternguard can all shuffle around as needed while firing, though the sternguard are less effective on-the-move than otherwise.

And yes, I always did like a shooty army... which is why I have so much trouble running my orks correctly. I think adding two 5-man assault squads and the missing scout to this build would make it quite viable at 1500 pts. (if I can do it for that... not certain)

Well, the crazy little army *almost* worked... fought a Sister's army to a draw. My insanely poor dice rolling on turn 1 (fired every weapon in my army, didn't scratch a single figure) and my opponents insanely good dice rolling on turn 2 (one of his SOB squads made 20 of 21 saving throws), pretty much stuck the fork in my game. But once I started charing my dreads into everything (even without CCWs) to keep them from getting wiped out by the multi-pseudomelta-missile shooting thingies he had two of... things got more interesting.

So, on the advice of a friend (and experienced gamer) and my own ideas... I've changed things up a bit. Now I have...


HQ: MoTF
Elite: Sternguard (6) w/ 2ML, sgt w/ PF
Troop: Scouts (10), sgt w/ PF, half with BP & combat blad & half w/ bolters
Troop: Scouts (5), 3 sniper rifles, ML, Telion
FA: LS Storm, MM
FA: LS Storm, MM
FA: Assault Squad (5), plas pist, sgt w/PW
Hvy: Dreadnought, TL-LC, CCW, storm bolter
Hvy: Dreadnought, TL-LC, CCW, storm bolter
Hvy: Dreadnought, TL-AutoCannon, CCW, storm bolter

Big improvement in my assault capability while still having a decent amount of firepower. I figure since in most armies can be in your shorts by turn 2 (the sisters were), having dual weapon dreads in an army this thin didn't really work. I did have to lose one of the dreads to make room, but getting two fast, open topped scouting transports with multi-meltas and an assault squad will probably make up for it. I certainly have a lot more mobility than before. Hoard army's still present a problem... but this should be a more viable build than the last.

Loving the Gigantasarus Bolt Pistol scilencer.
Only question, did you make is holster big enough to accomodate?

Cut a hole in the bottom of the holster

I like the army selection... was toying with the idea of getting a MOTF in order to use dreads as heavy options and allow me the get more terminators into my forces.

Do you think the MOTF is an effective HQ other than for this purpose? Oh, and the uber gun thing he can get in the vanilla codex!

He's OK as a character... not a great "killer" but very useful... last battle he fixed a destroyed lascannon on one of the dreads and assisted in three separate assaults, those two power fist attacks and the two normal attacks can really add up. I've never used a con beamer as I always have too many other things for him to do. Course he's really there to let me move my dreads down to Heavies and to reinforce a ruin, which can be nice with the scouts.

Ouch! sounds like your a bit unlucky with the dice rolls there. Have you painted more?

No, but I hope to make some progress today. Keep your fingers crossed...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK, finally made a bit of progress. Got the yellow done on the last two built sternguard. While this is not the most difficult thing to do, it is by far the most tedious.

Waitin' with anticipation!

Its hurting my fingers

About the drop pod:
Why not make it open in the middle?
The bottom parts folds outwards, and you can either glue the top shut, or do something else.

Looking pretty cool, I really like the dread too. Keep up the nice work!

pie_2054 wrote:About the drop pod:
Why not make it open in the middle?
The bottom parts folds outwards, and you can either glue the top shut, or do something else.

That's what I'd intended to do. Basically cut the door at the bend, the bottom part swings down on the normal hinge to act as a ramp, the top part swings up on a hinge of my manufacture or perhaps just pinned in place. Should be a fairly straight-forward conversion.


Some progress to report in-between the hail and tornadoes... got the spikey bitz on the kneeling tranquility sniper. Should be able to resume painting tomorrow once everything is secure and cured. No photo, sorry, wait until tomorrow when I get more of the painting done.

What paint job are you intending for the drop pod, Gitsplitta?

It'll be the same type of camo, but I'm toying with the idea of taking it up into a silhouette of the horizon and eventually the sky.

Jeez... I need my head examined... as if this project wasn't complicated enough.



So, I have a question for you guys. Up until this point I have not been "edge highlighting" the Tranquility Snipers. No particular reason... just not sure it'll go well with the blending and camo pattern. However, I know that the edge highlights are one of those things that makes models pop and stand out a bit more, and seem to be one of those things you find on the more finely painted models. So I'm wondering if I should try it out. Problem is once I do it, it's mighty hard to undo it... so I am a little cautious. I did edge highlight my greens (trooper and dread), and that looks fine, just not sure about the snipers...

Thoughts?

I'm sure it'll be fine. You might wan't to practice it out on some spare sprues you have lyin' around.

Practice on some orks, even if you mess em up, no bid deal

It's not really the "can I do it" part I'm worried about... I know I can do it... just trying to decide if it's appropriate. I know... I'll practice on the one Whalemusic built... that way if I screw the pooch on it I don't have to live with it!

Sheer genius!





Edited twice because I thought I misspelled a word, fixed it, then realized that I did not misspell the world and hand to change it back again... *sigh* I need a drink.

Thats cool, Ill get revenge on your TS marines

There will be a brief interruption in the Mantis Warriors while I do some last minute frantic ork painting for Saturday's tournament.

Lol I didn't really realise that there wasn't any highlighting.

Well, the highlights in the armor plates are integral in the blending... but their aren't the "edge highlights" so common in 40k painting. Will experiment with that when I finish my current emergency painting (grotz & a big mek).

Oh talk about awesome stuff. The silencers are just the tits. Very cool stuff on here

Thanks KingCracker!

Well, the wheels of progress should start rolling again tonight. After last weekend's tournament they announced the next tournament in the series... only 1000 points! I'm seriously thinking that I might be able to get 1000 pts of the "new" Mantis Warriors painted by then, even without the extra bits. I drew up a list trying to make the most out of what was already painted or was easily repainted. Took 3 dreads (including the completed one and the rifleman), a mid-sized unit of sternguard, some scouts w/ LS Storms and my MoTF. So I'm going to be busy and hopefully fairly productive over the next 4 or 5 weeks. It's supposed to be kind of lousy weather here over a good part of the holiday weekend so perhaps I'll have something significant to show for myself in a few days.

YES! Finally, the MoTF we've all been waiting for!

Picture

[So I'm going to be busy and hopefully fairly productive over the next 4 or 5 weeks. It's supposed to be kind of lousy weather here over a good part of the holiday weekend so perhaps I'll have something significant to show for myself in a few days.

Finally have some progress to show!

Probably doesn't look like much, but I picked out most of the details, still have a bit of work to do, but this is the final stage before adding the camo pattern.

Looking good! How did you do the scopes?

Have we seen these before? The silencer on the bolt pistol seems a bit long? (not really a good time to mention this - what with your excellent paint progress! Sorry...)

This may just be me, but the bayonets seem unnecessary since the silencers extend well beyond the bayonet point.

You need to take up the suppressor on the bolt pistol and the short bayonet with Whalemusic360... that was his build. May not be practical in every detail, but I think that figure looks very cool. I make sure to extend my bayonet beyond the end of the silencer by several scale inches, which I figure would be enough. They are there as much for aesthetic balance as practical use.

Keep in mind that these are leaf-shaped blades... not intended for thrusting... wouldn't be any good at it. Couple of inches of penetration maximum before armor, bone, etc would stop the progress of the blade. Those are slashing/chopping blades. As to the over-sized flash suppressor, I imagine by the time hand-to-hand combat has ensued... the flash suppressor is moot anyway.


In other words... just roll with it! :-)

As Git said, not all bayonets are made for pokeing. In this case it is for slashing. Plus it is a little plastic man in super armor, I think the realistic factor is out the window.

I hadn't even noticed the bayonets Silencers usually detach right? (and are probably a liability at close quarters too - whoops - Git beat me to that!) Still, as my education on all things military is the media - all my comments are my personal aesthetic only. (Though sometimes aesthetics are based on reality - even if my filtered reality isn't actual reality...)

I prefer (and have no issue with) the bayonet on the right. I prefer (and actually think is quite striking) the pose on the left. In fact - I think the left would look perfect (as opposed to just great) minus the bayonet and a shorter silencer on the bolt pistol.

Having said that, the only opinion that matters here is Git's - his blog, (now) his model

Everyone's opinions on the models, painting and ideas expressed here are welcome. Even if I disagree with you, I value the input and am honored by your willingness to give it.

And your right Arakasi, it's a great pose... Whalemusic has a real talent for model construction.

Did you mention how you did the bayonets, git? And nice painting

The bayonet on the right is the one I did. It is simply the bayonet from the standard dark eldar gun, painted black so it matches the leaf pattern of the rest of the camo. The other blade on that gun is what I make the right forearm blade out of.

and thanks... hope to move them along today to the next stage (camo). Will put pics up when I do.

@Inmygravenimage: Put the answer to your question (and some thoughts) on your blog. In short, they're cannibalized from some sniper rifles that I purchased off the net.

These are really cool! I can't wait to see a finished squad!

Been a long while since I've posted anything substantive... but finally, got one of the sternguard done. The other is fully painted save for the camo, which I hope to work on tomorrow night. I was hoping to get them both done this weekend, but with family visiting, the holiday and all... didn't quite make it. Not the kind of thing I want to try and rush through in any case.

Hope they'e worth the wait!

Fabulous job! I love it!

Nice, the camo pattern really makes it unique and interesting.

Excellent as always. The gun blends in too!

Beautiful stuff mate, gorgeous work. I had this random idea that if you had a spare mk6 torso you could half one waist high in swamp (very Martin Sheen)...

Its good to see you plugging away at the warriors again git. I was starting to miss your daily updates. BTW the finished sternguard looks great.

@Munch: Thank you my friend!
@clevahname: Thanks! It's a challenge to do. I keep a picture of the original artwork and the other one's I've done already in front of me while I paint which really helps me focus on the effect I'm going for.
@Arakasi: Yeah, I'm trying to sell the "camo" aspect of it, even though there's probably very few places in the universe where bright yellow with black yucca leaves actually can be considered camouflage... ... so I do the gun and paint the blades black like the leaf pattern. The tall yellow grass is there to try and help the illusion along. When I'm done I'll do a display base up for the whole unit which should help them out with the "stealthy" feeling considerably.
@inmygravenimage: I'm STILL going to do that for one of my scout squads... but since these guys are based with kind of a "high plains" feel it's kind of hard to justify. Be patient... it's an awesome idea that I will execute... it's just going to have to wait a bit longer.
@Warriors: Thanks, it's good to have something to show again. I was despairing that I was ever going to get back to it. Will keep trying to do a little bit every night so I can continue to make progress.

Thanks everyone, your continued interest and support is very instrumental in keeping me motivated!

What do you paint the rim of your base with again?

It's just GW's Scorched Brown, but it happens to match my flocking mix (GF-9) when washed with either Delvan Mud or Sepia perfectly. I used to ring all my bases in black, but I'm kind of getting attached to the brown as it matches the rest of the base and our gaming table better.

Looks good. Great paint job. All the differetnt poses really make the unit unique as well.

Well, whalemusic360's tranquility sniper is done... I just need to do the basing. Will have pics some time tonight.

This was my first experience trying this painting scheme with one of the newer models as I'd been using old beakies before this. Before the camo was added, the figure looked great... much better than the other figures did before the camo pattern was added to them. There is a lot more detail and clean ridges to the new figures, which has the nice effect of adding detail and depth with a minimum of effort. The drawback is that it becomes very difficult to do any extra painting in all these little cracks and crevices, so adding the camo pattern and making it look good was just physically difficult (hard to get the brush where I needed it & get a good painting angle). That being said, I really like how the figure turned out... hope you will as well.

Here we go. Never fails that when I complete a new figure we get hit by a thunderstorm and it wipes out my internet access for a day or so...

TS #5



and the squad defending an objective outside an abandoned ork compound...

very very cool!

Fantastic job Git! I like the overall look, especially with the tall grasses. I think your newest model looks great too. Keep up the good work.

Very cool, cant wait to get him in hand!

I finally JUST get a 5-man legal unit painted and I have to send one back.... *sigh* "Missed it by that much!" (doing my best Maxwell Smart impersonation) Nice job on the build wm, he looks really good.

For some reason they don't look as impressive on the table as I'd hoped... but they're getting my best effort, so they are what they are. The display base will help tie them together I'm sure.



So... now I have to decide what to do next.... I need a break from my sternguard if I want to stay frosty. So I'd like your input. Here are the units that need to be done for the 1000 pt army I want to take to the local tournament later this summer/fall...

Scouts w/ bolt guns (5)
Scouts w/ bolt pistols & CCWs (4)
2 LS storms
venerable dread w/ autocannon & CCW (though he's not venerable in this list)
dread w/ LC & CCW that needs to be repainted... shouldn't take too long

So, what do you guys want to see me work on next?

I personally like the modifications to the rifles very nice job. As well as the overall appreance of this figure is brilliant

Id do a pattern, something like:
Dred
Scouts
Storm
Sternguard
Dred
Scouts
Storm
Otherwise you pull a me and have 2 Vanguard, 2 Assaults, 2 death company, etc. but nothing I can, you know, play with.

Try doing a dread it being larger might make for a nice change.

Well, since no one seems to object to whalemusic's suggestion (you gotta get a shorter handle man... ), I'll go with that.

Will start with the twin las-cannon dread re-paint because I need to do something green rather than all this yellow. So here's the starting point. It was an old fire support dread w/ LCs and an ML, but experience has taught me that especially at low point values, people can be in your shorts far to early to sacrifice a ccw threat for one or two measly ML shots. I have some other, more interesting dread CCW arms to chose from, this stock one is just on there to make the point.

This is just a simple paint job for my old version of the chapter, but I can use it as my base and work up from there. It'll be a few days before I can put brush to figure again, but I'm hoping this'll go pretty quickly (the last dread re-paint did).



Edit:

I'd like to re-base him in order to get a more dynamic pose, but I think on these old plastic dreads the feet were actually part of the base... Can't remember as it's been so many years. Anyone help me out on this?

LOL, most of the time it gets shortend to whale or WM.

Lookin' good!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Lookin' good!

Gitsplitta wrote:

I'd like to re-base him in order to get a more dynamic pose, but I think on these old plastic dreads the feet were actually part of the base... Can't remember as it's been so many years. Anyone help me out on this?

Yes you are correct, the plastic dread feet are part of that style of base.

Wow, really? Glad the changed that.

OH WOW! I dig the silencers.. I didn't read all the previous pages, to much!!! But I love it!

LOL, there's a lot of chatting. If you have the time, read the first few pages of text... that will fill you in on what I'm trying to do and why, then just concentrate on the photos of the finished models.

There will be plenty more suppressed bolters, my whole sternguard squad will have them eventually. These are just the 5 that are done.

Yeah I am wading through it right now!! I am inspired and thinking of adding suppressors to my Veteran squad IG, although I don't think it makes sens to add them to Las-weapons.

The ones on my guy are just two tubes, one that fits in the other. Got em out of the GF9 tubes and whatnot pack. Pretty easy to do.

Hmm cool, however can las rifles actually be suppressed. In modern practice and theory Lasguns would make no noise at all, but a lot of light...

hmmm, maybe a las-gun suppresser would dim down the light.

So a las-gun suppressor is a blanket?

whalemusic360 wrote:So a las-gun suppressor is a blanket?

Could just call it a focusing lens instead of a silencer.

IE: array of lenses configured similarly to a telescope that focus the beam to be smaller but more intense.