Tiger hat looking snazzy!

A shame about the dreads, but if you can recycle the funds for more productive means and share with someone who will get the joy out of them, all the better!

Thanks for sharing

Sad news about the dread army, but great that you got them all painted before they left. Hopefully they’ve found a good home.

Wario came out great, the cigar being a cool touch along with the tiger skin hat. Some eBay rescue armour would be a great addition to the force and you’d make a great Mekboy for a Freeboota Waagh that reclaimed some unusual STC imperial armour

Thanks everyone! Appreciate the love and feedback as always.

@Not Online, no prob - it is Valhallan Blizzard straight out of the pot

@Llamahead, haven't heard of Tsaragrad before but sounds up my alley. Thanks for the tip!

@turtles, where Boris walks, tigers fear to tread...

@DJJJ, cheers! I am starting to think of them as a motley crew with a big ole mix of regiments all together.

@Viterbi (& gobert), I'm glad you noticed the cigar. It was just the same trick I used on the dreadnoughts, which was the same trick I used on the lava dwarves way back when - white base, yellow wash, orange wash.

@IGtR, cheers mate! The bloke who came to pick them up was super enthusiastic - mrs tzurk said he looked like a kid unboxing a gameboy on Christmas. I reckon they are in safe hands!

@gobert, thanks for the vote of confidence in diving into more Ork stuff! It did feel good to push through the last dread. Only took a day too in a few bursts. Why do I procrastinate so much on hobby stuff? Oh well!

I have been productive this week and polished off the squad.









Next step is the Catachans - first the build and wintering them up, then getting them painted!

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Much appreciated tzurk.

Also nice valhalans. Shame GW never got around to plastifying them.

Nice valhallans - I always liked their simple look, and now I think about it, I think I have a couple knocking around that I should get to painting!

Thanks for sharing

Man, valhallans are so neat looking. And you've done a great job with them, they really look like they're wading through snow and the cold

I was scrolling through on my mobile, and at first glance I saw Tusken Raiders. Second look revealed something very different. But awesome.

Loving the Valhallans, the dark shadows and bright highlights look great on them. They really match the ditty snowy bases too.

Great job finishing the whole squad, lovely color scheme and excited for the winterized Catachans!

Very nice Valhallans tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Not Online!!! wrote:Much appreciated tzurk.

Also nice valhalans. Shame GW never got around to plastifying them.

Thanks mate! Agreed about them being discontinued. I have read a lot on the internet about GW being hesitant to release new IG stuff because of the prevalence of 3rd party proxies for the range, but I'm not sure how much stock I put into that. Would love to see a multipart greatcoat guard in future, with valhallan/steel legion/krieg/vostroyan upgrade kits.

IGtR= wrote:Nice valhallans - I always liked their simple look, and now I think about it, I think I have a couple knocking around that I should get to painting!

Thanks for sharing

Cheers IGtR! Hope to see them soon. Old metal for the old metal gods, nostalgia for the nostalgia throne!

amazingturtles wrote:Man, valhallans are so neat looking. And you've done a great job with them, they really look like they're wading through snow and the cold

Thanks turtles! I wouldn't want to trade places with one, thats for sure.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:I was scrolling through on my mobile, and at first glance I saw Tusken Raiders. Second look revealed something very different. But awesome.

Thanks DJJJ! You say for the Emperor, I say HON HON HON - it's all the same underneath!

gobert wrote:Loving the Valhallans, the dark shadows and bright highlights look great on them. They really match the ditty snowy bases too.

Cheers gobert. The starkness comes from a lack of desire to layer 20 greatcoats rather than any conscious decision making but glad it turned out okay!

Viterbi wrote:Great job finishing the whole squad, lovely color scheme and excited for the winterized Catachans!

Cheers Viterbi! I stole most of the colour scheme from goonhammer's Paint Anything showcase on the IG and just dumbed down the method to speed things up a bit.

Captain Brown wrote:Very nice Valhallans tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks CB! Got another squad of them in the pipeline, among a few other regiments. Apologies for the awful photos; took them in a rush and they are more for marking progress than display!

Catachans are built but still need cleaning and winterising.



I then took a little detour into plasma town and built one for each squad.







As well as tidying up a few broken bits and adding a vox pack to the guy I use as Comms in KT.



And tzurk jr helped me clean a bunch of old metal! There are still a few more Steel Legionnaires taking a bath. I also found a squad of unbuilt Krieg grenadiers. Once a few Krieg sergeants are made and everything is put together, I will have 50 kriegsmen, 20 each of Valhallans, Catachans, and Steel Legion, and 10 Vostroyans. Nice little mix of winter guard, I think.



I'll keep plodding away. The horde is starting to look a bit intimidating!

Happy painting everyone 8-)

intimidating?

oh, that is a lot of tin... since i picked up my old warriors of chaos army i relearnt how annoying metal was to paint on...
Still good luck with them

Woops, not sure what happened with weird double post here. Sorry to anyone who had to scroll through that twice!

@Not Online, thanks and good luck to you too! Will hop on over and check them out. I haven’t had any problems painting metal yet - but I am pretty lucky to live in an area that has pretty much perfect priming conditions all year round - and in terms of cleaning and assembly they are an absolute dream compared to plastic and (especially) resin!

Well. Intimidating indeed. All those old metal lads.... Since i picked up work again on my warriors of chaos army, which was basically a decade in an open box, i realised just how annoying metal was to paint on....

Good luck with yours , and looking forwards to the results of it

Metal figures are better for gaming in my opinion...the weight of the figures means a sudden bumping of the table or attack of the cat is far less of an impact. Now plastic is easier to convert and the GW plastics are beautiful...but they often feel like they could all get blown over in a strong wind...even when I add pennies under the bases. However, since I am old and have been playing for decades, there is probably some sentimentality sneaking in.

My two cents,

CB

That is a lot of old metal to get painting! I like how you’ve modified lots of them to take plasma, fun little conversions, and useful too! Can’t wait to see the catachans all bearded and fur lined !

Thanks CB! Definitely agree that metal minis just feel right!

Cheers gobert! Some work better than others but I think they add a bit of character and fit in with the ragtag nature of the mixed fighting force.

Not a huge amount of hobby progress - dudes are on bases and catachans are starting to be wintered up. Still have 11 poor Steel Legionnaires sitting in their bath who haven't been scrubbed down yet, but otherwise that brings us up to the 12 full squads.



Just parking some ideas on potential scale model kits to use to replace the 3D printed tanks. I know that for some people using real world tanks is a deal breaker, but for me as long as it's reasonably close in dimensions and I can 40k-ify the guns, I'm happy. I kind of like the idea of having a mix of Soviet and German tanks to represent the Valhallan/Vostroyan and Steel Legion/Krieg units working together - maybe even having a US tank or two in there that the Catachans have brought along.

Leman Russ Option 1: 1/48 KV2



Hatches and accessories will need to be upsized but this thing is pretty much spot on to the height and width of a russ. It's ~2cm longer, which doesn't bother me so much given a dozer blade adds more than that.

Comparison (not mine):


Leman Russ Option 2: Meng World War Toons King Tiger



Another that is pretty much spot on for dimensions and even shares 40k's chibified proportions. Seems to be pretty popular with modelers online.

Comparison (not mine):



Chimera Option 1: 1/35 Pz II



One of few tanks I can find that is close in size - being 0.5cm longer and 1.5cm narrower. Doesn't scream APC to me, but then, neither does the Chimera...

I have ideas for a matched chassis Soviet hellhound and basilisk; so if the Chimera is German or American, I can handwave it as being a variant design/from a different STC than the other two.

Chimera Option 2: 1/35 T60



Spot on for length but 2.3cm too narrow. Seems to have a bit more room for guardsmen inside, particularly if the front was plasticarded up and the turret moved forward.

Chimera Option 3: 1/35 M113

2cm too long, 1.3cm too narrow. I like it as a thematic fit for the Vietnam War-ish Catachans, but it is very obviously the inspiration for the shape of the Rhino, so maybe too on the nose there.



I thought about the hanomag as well, and even saw a good hanomag-to-chimera conversion online, but it was shortened and widened and I just don't have the faith in my modelling ability to pull off that kind of build.

Hellhound: 1/35 T 18

Same length, slightly too narrow. Just a really interesting profile, room for fuel barrels at the back, and I like that I can then use the SU 18 for a basilisk and we keep the whole shared chassis thing. Would probably take his lil hat off the turret.



Basilisk: 1/35 SU 18
With a gun swap and some detailing on the case, would tie in nicely with the T 18 hellhound.



Basilisk Option 2: 1/48 M7 Priest


Narrower still (6cm v 9cm for chimera chassis), but another option.

Malcador Infernus: 1/48 Churchill Crocodile
Hard to find dimensions for; but the Malcador is roughly 18cm x 8cm without the trailer and this is 25cm x 8cm with the trailer so seems pretty good to me. Could scratch build a new gun, or maybe use a thermal cannon from a Knight or something.



Baneblade: 1/35 Light Lowe

i have no idea on the dimensions on this thing and since it was unbuilt can't even find the real world ones to convert. I have seen baneblades made from Mauses before, so as another German superheavy maybe it is in the same ballpark. I love the aesthetic though. Even has the perfect spot on the hull for a demolisher!



Anyway, those are my ramblings for the moment.

Hopefully have some more meaningful updates soon.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Built, based and ready for priming! Bar a few particularly bad mould lines that have shown up in these pics.

Vostroyans


Valhallans


Krieg clean-ups and add-ons (and tzurk jr)


Krieg sergeants


Krieg fill-ins - I couldn't find my bag of "krieg arms" so got busy with Ad Mech ones. Of course I found it after they were built! The guy with the shortened plasma caliver is the 6th plasma gun for Krieg which means I have the option of running them all in infantry squads or having 2 x vet squads with 3 plasma each. He has metal arms because he's an experienced plasma gunner who's weapon has Gotten Hot! on more than one occasion.



Straken


Steel Legion


Catachans 1


Catachans 2


Painting time 8-)

Will finish Catachans and Valhallans first as I know where I'm going with those.

Vostroyans thinking emerald green coats and white pants - bit fancy.

Steel Legion maybe a light grey overcoat with dark pants. Models are very similar to Krieg so want them to be easily differentiated.

Will have a look at potential schemes before getting started.

Thanks for looking & happy painting everyone!

Looking forward to seeing how these jungle guys turn out

That’s a lovely collection of metal Guard, one of my hobby regrets is amassing and then selling off a host of 2nd Ed Cadians :/

It’s late to the party but I like the painted Valhallans, nicely done! Winterised Catachans made me chuckle!

For Leman Russ options I’m inclined towards that Meng Tiger myself, but there’s also the Meng Churchill to consider! I’m thinking about bashing some of the Churchills to represent WW2 Kangaroo style Chimeras… It’s on the ‘if I ever get round to it’ idea pile

I like your SU18/ T18 ideas.

Thanks RegularGuy! Have started on them today, hopefully finish up before too long!

Cheers Ragsta. Sorry for your loss - the old Cadians are beautiful sculpts! I would love to get my hands on a squad eventually - it would be great to have one of each, although Tallarn, Mordian and Praetorian seem to be a lot harder to find.

The Churchill as a Kangaroo APC is a neat idea.

Apologies for rushed photos, but have made a bit of progress this week.

Did some industrial scale priming, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake for a few reasons. Nothing unsalvageable and lessons learned for the next time I am spraying 50 dudes at once (hopefully never)!



Krieg guys are done and dusted - love this scheme, banged them out in a day. I also pulled the sponsons off the Russes are they were awkward and I never got around to filling them with weapons, and repainted the areas underneath.


Valhallans took a bit longer but are there. God bless Agrax Earthshade - making my minis look good since 2017!

Pre-wash


Post-wash + quick highlights


Valhallan group shots




All the infantry so far...do I really need to paint 50 more?


Green down on the Catchacoldachans - gonna try for all 20 at once! Hoping they will be pretty simple given there are only a few colours going down and they are generally in big, unbroken blocks. You can see some of the effects of the dodgy priming here...


I also picked up a 1/35 Pz II to see if I can Chimera-fy it up. I can picture the hurret and tull weapons as well as position of the lasgun array; it will just come down to whether or not I can bulk the back up to convincingly sell an APC hull. I am hoping a Taurox hatch will sit nicely over the top, but will have a play with plasticard as well.

tzurk,

Well the troops are getting painted.

I like Chimera Option 3: 1/35 M113. It looks like an APC...it was an APC...a simple weapon swap or two and you have transports.

My two cents,

CB

Thanks CB. Progress is progress! the M113 is definitely still an option at this stage and I agree that it fits the bill with the least amount of work.

Small update, some bad pics of the catachans and a shot of the infantry shelf so far. Vostroyans are next!

Painting the catachans was a bit of a trip on the hobby rollercoaster; at basecoats I was wondering why I even bother painting anything, then after an Agrax wash I thought they were coming together okay, then trying to highlight all that skin nearly drove me crazy. In the end, they are finished and that is the most important thing.







Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

EDIT:

I started working on the Vostroyans, but sort of got disheartened with them as I went through the basecoating process - I am not sure of my colour choices, paint application, etc...

So I put the batch on ice halfway through the cleanup/detailing step and went ahead and finished the sergeant. I am happier with the end result, and now have a bit of a boost to finish the rest of the squad.

Good lord, that's a lot of guardsmen Love bearded Straken, that's exactly the detail he needed And the Vostroyan Sgt. looks really cool, excited to see the scheme applied to the rest of the squad.

Thanks Viterbi!

We're almost there. I was going to cap it at 120 infantry, but now I'm thinking about grabbing 30 more to make vets - maybe by grabbing a Start Collecting and the Cadian Defence Force boxes as that nets me two Leman Russes and a Chimera to start off the armour as well. Alternate heads on the Cadians - either 3rd party or maybe Skitarii Vanguard - could make neat vets pretty easily.

And then there's Scions too!

Anyway, I have finished off the Vostroyan squad. I spent a bit more time on them than usual, due to the intricate nature of the sculpt and the fact that I really, really like the models. If they weren't so expensive I'd like to have a bunch more of them!

After struggling with the scheme I am really quite pleased how they look finished. I used a bit more of an overall colour scheme on these guys than simply saying that all pauldrons are brass while guns are steel, to sort of match the bespoke look of their equipment, and I'm happy with how that came out.

Anyway, here are the pics! I'm aiming to get the Steel Legion dudes stripped and rebased and primed today so I can start work on them tomorrow.





That's it for now, hopefully have another update soon. Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Very nice tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Great looking squad!

Its rare to see such well painted vostroyans!

Lovely work on the Vostroyans, that's a really nice teal colour!

like the colour scheme on the krieg minis

120+ infantry - been there so can fully appreciate your sterling efforts, mate! And also the ever present siren call of ‘just one more platoon….’.

The amalgamation of different units is creating some great variety in this force, and they have a cool uniformity with your basing and colour choices!

You’re inspiring to start posting group shots of my own Guard now. Keep up the good work!

Ragsta

This would look absolutely awesome over 120 guardsman! Always loved the Vostroyans, and fun memories of Medusa V (when they were released, unless I am mistaken) whenever I see them

Thanks for sharing

Thank you every body for the comments! They are much appreciated - and good motivation!

Captain Brown wrote:Very nice tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks CB! Your favourite quote about the long painting war feels truer now than ever

Viterbi wrote:Great looking squad!

Not Online!!! wrote:Its rare to see such well painted vostroyans!

Olthannon wrote:Lovely work on the Vostroyans, that's a really nice teal colour!

Thanks guys! Glad you like them. They will serve as a useful lesson to not give up when things are looking woeful during the base coating stage!

bobbuilder wrote:like the colour scheme on the krieg minis

Thanks mate! I do too - it is by far the quickest and easiest of the bunch!

Ragsta wrote:
120+ infantry - been there so can fully appreciate your sterling efforts, mate! And also the ever present siren call of ‘just one more platoon….’.

The amalgamation of different units is creating some great variety in this force, and they have a cool uniformity with your basing and colour choices!

You’re inspiring to start posting group shots of my own Guard now. Keep up the good work!

Ragsta

Thanks Ragsta - appreciate your kind words! I am a bit excited to finish off the Steel Legion so I can post some army shots of the infantry all together on a game board. Will have to check out your dudes. IG always feel like such a personal army too, there's a bit of us in all of them!

IGtR= wrote:This would look absolutely awesome over 120 guardsman! Always loved the Vostroyans, and fun memories of Medusa V (when they were released, unless I am mistaken) whenever I see them

Thanks for sharing

I am pretty sure I was still out of the game when they first got released, but they are really great models. If I could afford 120 of them though I'd probably buy a caravan or a bigger house

Progress!

Got the test guy finished to a standard I am happy with. I was hoping to be able to get away with drybrushing a highlight all over, like I did with the Krieg, but his coat didn't like it at all, so they are getting stuck with my shoddy edge highlighting. Sorry guys!





Basecoats have started on the rest of them. Painting the leather straps on all these guys will be the death of me. I completely skipped this step on the Krieg, but I felt like without it these guys were too monochromatic grey and a bit dull.



I also took a group shot of all 6 flavours of winter guard so far.





PS have you guys seen the new Kill Team starter set??

My brother in law and main 40k opponent plays orks - we will definitely be picking up a box (or two...)



Wowwww... finally some GW love for the Krieg! The terrain looks bloody awesome too. Exciting times ahead!

Thanks for looking everyone, and happy painting 8-)

tzurk,

Edge highlighting is perfectly fine for Imperial Guardsmen, and for a platoon it will look far superior to simple, plain, base colors.

Yes, Guard armies keep growing unless you put a line in the sand and say no more.

Cheers,

CB

Wow tzurk, you’ve been busy! The Winter Guard are looking mighty impressive all bunched up on their shelf, can’t wait to see them on the game board. I thought of your army when i saw the new Kreig, they look cool minis, and your spare arms should allow some decent kit bashing for the second box

[
PS have you guys seen the new Kill Team starter set??

My brother in law and main 40k opponent plays orks - we will definitely be picking up a box (or two...)



120 guardsman?? your a inspiration as i have over 200 to paint for my diorama and more to come once they release the krieg box sets, i presume they will be selling these separate to the kill team box set? will make converting krieg a lot easier, keep up the good work

I like the new blue-tinted coat color on that test model. Good luck with the rest of the horde.

Thanks CB, gobert, bobbuilder and DJJazzyJeff! Appreciate you guys taking the time to look and comment.

@bob, I imagine the Krieg box will be a bestseller so it'd be madness for them to not release it as a standalone product after the KT boxes run out. I think I read somewhere that they do have all the pieces for a regular infantry squad (special weapons, sergeant options etc) so looks like they have planned ahead in that regard.

Steel Legion fellas are finally done - although I just realised I forgot to black the base rims and dot the plasma gun muzzles, so will do that before I put them on the shelf with their 100 brothers. Took a lot longer than I expected - got a bit burnt out with these, but happy they are done!

4



Just in time for tax return...

And the purchase of a big secondhand IG lot including 30 cadians to convert into veterans, 3 leman russes, 10 scions, a sentinel, a full set of assassins and a extra few characters, heavy weapons teams, and command squads besides.

Exciting times ahead!

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

That mixed winter squad pic is gorgeous, men on a mission movie poster style Finished squad looks cool and always remember: Never look at your edge highlighting on a big computer screen. It's not healthy

The steel legion boys came out great, I love the orange of the plasma gun. Good luck with the conversions from the eBay haul!

Thanks fellas!

haha Viterbi - you're right there. It is useful for picking up missed spots, but arrgh - right when you're holding them at arm's length and thinking you haven't done a bad job, boom, its like you've done it while hamfisting a crayon with your tongue sticking out.

Cheers gobert! Orange was easiest, and I know it goes in opposite direction to the "hot" plasma most people do, but it was quick and easy and I like the bright contrast agains the mostly dull guardsmen.

Since we're in lockdown at the moment and the sun was shining this morning, I took a few group shots of the infantry portion of the army so far.



















Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

Wow, amazing collection. I love the alternate paint scheme on the Steel Legion; you rarely see someone take those models in a totally different direction like that. The simple scheme works well on them and the way you capture the glare on the goggles gives a nice detail.

The variety of models here is just excellent and the consistent paint scheme across all of them really works well. That is one way to ensure you never get bored of painting the same faction - keep mixing in new models and units. Very good inspiration for those of us who want to own, paint and use one (or more) of everything!

Wow I love a good army shot, but that’s an amazing one! Great stuff tzurk

Are those Solar Auxillia flamer models? I really like the variety of infantry regiments and that youve tied them visually together without losing their individuality. Also, I like your terrain.

Truly awesome army shot!

Thanks for sharing, they look spectacular together

Those are lovely shots, made more so by the backing and terrain pieces.

I’ve said it before but the diverse figures still knit together really nicely thanks to your colours choices, painting style and bases!

Please stop buying more old Guard, I’ve already picked up another platoon’s worth myself for the infantry swarm….

Straken made me laugh in those pics - “Me cold!!!!”

Simply beautiful.

well done!

Completed army shot looks excellent! The mixed regiments look really unified with your colour scheme.

I had some winter guard as well and even at the height of my collecting I only had 2 platoons worth.

It's a sight to behold, well done!

So many minis! Your collection of armies and painting skills are awesome! Well done on all your work, I especially liked your netch and mushrooms!

Looking awesome. May have missed it before, but what are you using for snow? I need to replace some on some of my old Romans...

Exalted tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

That's quite a collection! It's amazing how even with so many different kinds of models they all look like they belong to the same army. The color scheme and basing really work!

Hey dudes,

Thank you for all the kind words! They are very much appreciated.

@blockade23 - simply Valhallan Blizzard. I've tried baking soda mixtures in the past, but I love just being able to dip straight into the pot and get consistent results every time.

@Warboss Waaazag, yeah, the flamers are from Solar Auxilia. I was running them as command meltas or flamer SWS, but with the new codex, I'm not sure where they'll end up.

Anyway, while the real world has been busy in the last 18 months or so with tzurk jr no 3, new jobs, etc - not a whole lot has been happening in the hobby world. I've spent this weekend putting together as many half-finished minis as I can to hopefully get some painting done in the near future.

They're all Ashlander Exodites - firstly a 3rd ed Archon, which is one of my favourite 40k minis of all time, but I wasn't going to use in the army because of the whole "wearing a face as a helmet" thing - until I realised that in Morrowind lore that's exactly what Almalexia did to Nerevar...so in he goes. I swapped his arms out for incubi arms and gave him a wrist mounted gun - I'm not sure what I'll run him as. Maybe an Autarch or a Phoenix Lord, or maybe just a squad leader for Striking Scorpions or something. Then a stock Warlock from my childhood, and an old Urien Rakarth. I sculpted him some more hair to cover up his stapled-on face. I think I'll probably use him as a Spiritseer - the dwemer cube in his hand will match the wraithblades-as-dwemer-sphere-centurions aesthetic whenever I get around to finally building them.



Then we have some Rangers to go with my already painted one to fill out two squads of 5. My sculpting skills are still awful, but I had some fun giving a variety of Morrowind helmets - Colovian Fur, Boiled Netch, Redoran Watchman's. The mohawk head is from a new Escher.





Farseer on Cliff Racer.





And the leftovers - a guardian with boiled netch helm, a stock death jester who looks perfectly suited to wearing Daedric armour, and the incubus who donated his arms to the converted Archon. He looks like an absolute unit next to these guys - maybe a secret Altmer? I'm thinking I will keep him up my sleeve to eventually be part of a Dark Reapers squad down the line.



That's it for now, they've all been cleaned up a bit and primed ready for painting so hopefully I make some time for them soon.

Feels good to be back posting again. Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Spoilering in some inspiration for the various helmets and things above:

These old minis are great. Love the Farseer surfing the pterodactyl!

Great to see you back with a bang tzurk, or was that the sound of you dropping all of that lead! cool conversions, especially the dude surfing the dinosaur. He just screams exodites!

Thanks fellas! That old bug-eyed farseer is close to the pride of my collection - took a lot of scouring to find him at a price I could reasonably accept - and together with the dino is probably the most traditionally "Exodite" mini of the lot.

Got some base coats down this arvo. Felt good to be painting again! But my Agrax Earthshade had tipped over and wasn't sealed properly, so stalled here for the day. I've got one more week of school holidays so will pick some more up after the Easter break and hopefully get some more done.]

I started on one of the rangers and some bug troop fillers - I'm not sure if I ever showed these to you guys - I think they're from Kill Team or Blackstone Fortress or something but they seem kwama/scrib/nix hound-ly enough to me. Trying to colour match them to the chitin armour I've been painting so far - as if they and their friends were the donors.



Thanks for looking & happy painting 8-)

Nice start, shame the Agrax spilled, but I guess it’s just living up to the memes!

I also forgot to say congrats on mini-tzurk no3, so congratulations to you and Mrs tzurk!

He’s back baby!!

I never finished playing oblivion, but I really like these latest morrow wind Eldar. Hope you and the family are all doing well. Looking forward to further updates, real life permitting!

Thanks gobert! We're all buckled in for a wild ride.

Thanks Ragsta! Glad to be back(ish) ((for now)).

I really like forums hey. I think I am just the right vintage that they were just starting to take off in popularity when I was a kid, and I was all over them - particularly gaming and sports ones, a few webcomics, whatever. My mum was mad about the Australian Idol forum. They have really gone the way of the dodo in recent years in favour of social media. So there is definitely an element of nostalgia in there, but also the idea of a community, knowing everybody's (screen) names, checking in on each other, getting a sense of the person behind the screen that I feel gets missed in the other stuff.

Anyway forums can be slow and I have seen a lot of people on this site start blogs and discontinue them due to lack of interest and I can see why. For me, if I need the instant gratification of "people looking at my cool thing", that is when I post to reddit - the only other site I really use for this stuff. That's cool, but I feel like people just see it, do a thumbs up and a "cool thing" (alternately, "this thing sucks") and then scroll through 1,000 more cool things. I am a big fan of having the blog here and letting it grow and contract with me over the years - it's a folio of all the work, sure, but also everything else - the bursts of productivity in between real life, fluff I'd forgotten I'd written, insights I'd forgotten I'd had, rants I'd forgotten I'd ranted. I've never sat down and read through all the pages back to back but I imagine one day I will and it will be really satisfying in a sense that seeing 100+ individual posts on reddit or wherever wouldn't be.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you to everyone who's been following along for a short time or a long time and liked what I've been doing or felt sorry enough about it to say something. I know that I am one of the lucky ones who does get some regular feedback, and even though I like to think I'd still be posting even if I didn't, I'd be lying if I said I didn't get the warm and fuzzies everytime I see that the name next to "most recent post" isn't mine. Love and appreciate you guys, thank you for joining me in this little corner of the internet.

Anyway, for a small miniatures update - I have picked up some more brown talent in a jar and given my dudes a bath, should be able to throw some highlights on them before the end of the week and have my first new painted models in a looooong time.

I also had a brand new box of wraithguard arrive in the mail today and between juggling the kids and the house managed to cobble together a concept for the dwarven sphere centurion-inspired wraithblades.

They'll be the first minis of the army that aren't 20+ years old and metal, but the iconic "wraith" look has hardly changed in that time and converting metal wraithguard looked like an absolute nightmare.

The wraithguard kit is fantastic too btw, I was really impressed with the amount of extra bits you get leftover if you decide to make either shooty or stabby guys. They made putting this together really easy and will also come in handy for future bits and bobs in the project.

He's still very rough at this stage, I've pretty much just chopped his hands off and integrated the axe/shield to stick closer to the source material. I used one of the legs to lengthen the torso as with the vanilla piece he was far too short, then used some spare hip/loin cloth shields to make a bit of a skirt over the connection to the sphere. I'm a bit worried that the sphere is too bare - even though the Morrowind version is literally a bowling ball - but I know any additional greebling will mean the sphere couldn't actually move. I'm thinking of maybe adding some tiny soul stones just to give some extra texture/colour spots. Need to fill gaps in both his arms, and have a play with the head - I don't think the goofy eyes will fit, but I will definitely do a mock up to see if I love them.

Would love to hear any of your thoughts.

Here's the in-game inspo:



And here's the mockup:







That's it for tonight!

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

That's a pretty solid interpretation for the Wraithguard. I like the bugs from the previous post, too.

Spoilered rollover pics of the wraithguard/sphere centurion concept for anyone who missed it:



Thanks youwashock! Here are the bugs all painted up with their ranger friend. Had some fun with textures on the ranger.







Next up is the converted Archon, who will be inspired by these guys from the Tribunal expansion - personal bodyguards of one of the Dark Elves' living gods. Have a few ideas on how to pant the pearlescent armour and am anticipating a few repaints until I land on one I like.

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

And here he is! I am not super happy with how he shows up in the pics, but he looks alright in real life at arm's length. There are definitely parts of him that could use a repaint but that's future tzurk's problem - I have more minis to paint, and don't want to waste this roll that I'm on!





Next up I'm going to try and batch 3 rangers at once to finish up a full squad of 5.

I also picked up one of these guys from Reaper



that I'm going to turn into one of these guys



to either use as a Guardian weapons platform or maybe as one of the Wraithguard to break up the look of all the spheres.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Glad to see you back posting Tzurk! Morrowind still remains one of my favourite games so this is awesome. Such a cool idea. You nailed the Ashlander red for the robes.

Looking forward to more.

Cool use of that old Archon. I look forward to seeing what you do with the not-Umber Hulk.

Thanks Olthannon! Appreciate you dropping by. I am pretty happy with how the red cloth/bonemold played out on the ranger. I wasn't working off an in-game item but think I must have been thinking of one of these two pieces of concept art:





Thanks youwashock! I think I said before that he is one of my all-time favourite sculpts and I'm glad I got to make him my own - I don't know that I've ever seen one converted before, even a simple arm swap like mine.

Some more progress, got three rangers finished so I have a full squad - the first completed unit of the army! I realised while painting that it was probably a bad idea compositionally to put the kwama egg on the base of the guy whose helmet also looks like an egg...oh well.





I also finsihed up three more guardians/DAs - all together i have a nice little 25 PL/500 pt army (Archon as Asurmen, 10 x DAs, 5 x Rangers, and the netch as a war walker) - will hopefully try to get a game in some time before 10th drops...





I'm really proud of the guy in the middle - even though he's far from my best/most impressive work, he's the first mini that I can remember painting that turned out pretty much exactly how I'd pictured him in my head when I first saw the model and thought, yeah he could work for the project. The armour, the base, the tabard - all just worked without too much trouble. A nice moment 8-)

He's based on one of these guys, who use adamantium weapons - which is why his catapult is pure silver and missing the green glass/blue dwarven accents of the others'.




Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

Two more Exodites - a Howling Banshee made from an old harlequin with a spear added because what is more Morrowind than a spear? - and a Warlock/Spiritseer.

I had originally painted her jacket purple but between the bright green and the jester's mask she looked too much like the Joker, so I went back to classic "boiled netch".

I had originally painted his puzzle box brass, but the faces just screamed out "Daedric artifact" to me.




Foot Farseer and another Warlock up next - to give a bit more flexibility in character choices for a small army list.

Then 5 more rangers.

Then the bike/cliff racer farseer.

Then that's all that I have primed up so far - can get back to building things - the Wraithguard and the kwama warrior. Woohoo!!!

Painting is such a love/hate relationship for me. Hate doing it, but love having it done...ahhhh.

We're getting there!

Thanks for looking and happy painting 8-)

These are amazing fomr concept to execution tzurk!

Absolutely brilliant mate, the mushrooms are such a nice touch and the glass weapons look brill!

Thanks Not Online!!! and Olthannon. I'm happy with the recipe for glass - it basically means every time I stuff it up I just go back over with a green wash and it adds to the effect...happy accidents 8-)

Here's the warlock along with the inspo for his robe from the game. I tried about four different colour schemes on the lotus farseer and hated them so he's having another dettol bath and I'll get to work on the skyrunner instead.








Although I've just seen I've forgotten to highlight his tassley bits so will go back and do that before I put him back on the shelf, as well as a few bits where colours have bled into each other. How good is close up photography!

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

some fantastic customization on the minis here, everything looks unique great stuff

Man, you really are on a roll, knocking it out of the park! The conversions big and small work so well and fit the morrowwind pics really well. I couldn’t agree more with your views on forums, though I was a late starter, it’s the community that dakka has that sets it apart from social media. A few likes on insta and just aren’t the same. The short format most adapt on their captions just don’t have the same feel and get almost stock replies.

The warlock looks excellent, I think you nailed the robe, the sleeves in particular make the fabric look like chiffon.

Great work with those old metals. Especially nice to see the old Harlequins getting love.

Nice to see some of the old metal models there tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Lovely stuff. I like the paintjobs.

Thanks everybody! Really appreciate the comments. Have had a lot of fun with these guys making small tweaks to keep them in theme. Compared to the bigger conversion projects of the Chaos Orcs & geometry daemons, it's been fun between the Eldar and the Imperial Guard to mostly stick to the base models and see what little pieces I can change to have the most effect.

I've finished up the farseer on skyrunner/cliff racer. I really struggled to get him completed - I've never been good at maintaining concentration/motivation and tend to struggle with bigger miniatures - so even though he's a character and one of my favourite sculpts of all time, the paintjob doesn't quite do him justice. Oh well, he's still tabletop, and he ticks the brief of "cephalod helm" and "cliffracer". He wasn't the easiest thing to photograph either!









I've also received a delivery of a few more old metal dude/ettes who will eventually become striking scorpions and/or howling banshees.









Thanks for looking everyone & happy painting 8-)

What do you mean, this is one nice looking Farseer and protobirb!

Thanks Not Online!!! - I don't mean to sound too self deprecating or anything, I know that a year or two ago I would be stoked with the quality of the paintjob - I guess it's just high expectations and knowing that I could have done better if I'd put in the time and effort. Like if you compare his robe to the ranger at the top of the page's, or look at the wings on the bird, it just looks rushed and sloppy - because it was, lol.

Anyway he's done and I am happy with him, just also aware that he could have been done better and I could have been happier. But that's the eternal challenge of every hobbyist with a backlog right?

Not sure where to go next. I think I'm gonna change the head on the lotus pose farseer to make her a Telvanni dust adept. They had awesome concept art but only the helmet ended up making it into the game.





I know I probably should paint the other 5 rangers I've already got primed but I feel all painted out for now. Maybe I'll build the rest of the wraithguard or have a look at what to do with the dustback helamites. Options... 8-)

Brilliant work on the Farseer! Even though apparently, some part of my brain reviles at the mere thought of a cliffracer (was there ever more villainous a videogame denizen??)

Looking forward to more!

Awesome looking eldar. Great work

Yay for Kruellagh and Lelith! Farseer turned out cool.

Oh no, cliffracers!

He's great.

I enjoyed looking through your blog, tzurk The geometry Tzeentch demons are such a creative and cool idea. I also like your battlewagon conversion. That's quite an imperial guard force as well.

Cool gardener, his helmet is the standout for me. Love the texture on the pterosaur wings too

Thanks everyone!

It's been a while, between the birth of our third tzurk jr and a career shift into a higher responsibility/workload/stress job there's not a lot of hobbying to report on. I have made some small progress with a few Exodite conversions and a couple minis for DnD but haven't gotten around to taking pics yet.

I do however have some TONKS to share. I really fell in love with this game after reading theCrowe's reports here on Dakka and in a couple of sessions threw together the bits I needed to have a pick up game with my regular DnD crew. They still need some details and paint but I had an absolute blast putting them together and can't wait to make more - these worked fine for our game but except for the spiderbot are technically a little too big so I will try and make another batch that fit to the intended 70mmx50mm scale.

They're not the best pics and I'll likely grab some more individual shots as they get painted up.
a








The cow tank is my favourite - modelled after the bulf, a unit from an ancient RTS/tower hybrid game I played as a kid called Netstorm.



I'm also not sure if I've posted him here before - I very well may have - but I did paint this guy up last year to use as an Orc Glory Paladin in a short DnD campaign - Zigrod "Ziggy" Stardust.




Hope everyone is enjoying some downtime over the holidays.

Thanks for looking & happy painting 8-)

There's just something magical about the smallest possible tanks. It's in any good ork player too what with the grot tanks.

Also the Rocker is simply awesomely done!

Fantastic work! Love those Tonks! My favourite is the Tall Tower Tonk with the big quad-gun on top. What a great bit of imagineering.

Really glad to hear you’ve been inspired to get your Tonk on and that it’s going down a treat too. I’ll have to get a good look at the rest of your blog here though the pictures are all really big and my phone doesn’t like it much.

I’m Enjoying Zigrod too! What a classic mini!
If you like my battle reports and you like Ork Goffik Rockers you should check out the fiction forum where I’ve been running a Brewhouse Bash story set in an ork rock bar, that’s now turned into a road race. Lots more daft fun over there to inspire more Orky painting. Or if you like you can throw in your own ork racer!

Welcome back tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Good seeing you back crafting! The tonks are great, hope we get to see them painted up soon. My favourite is the one with the belly gun that looks like a screwdriver handle.

Can’t beat an OG Goff Rocker either, nice paint job you gave him

Very cool that you've gotten interest in TONKS also, and I like your TONKS. Like you,my favorite in the cow with a turret.

The tower Tonk = Amazing!! Likewise, the Goff Rockka looks great, the free hand writing on the back is outstanding.

Goff rocker really looks the part. I like the mohawk and his vest, great work.

Thank you everyone! Appreciate you taking the time to stop by and comment!

It's good to be back and I'm glad the tzonks are getting some love.

They're all primed ready to go but it's been a crazy Christmas period as usual and the last time I sat down to paint we had a tropical thunderstorm that brought a kitchen roof leak and a power outage so I've been trying not to jinx it again.

In the meantime hobby ADHD has kicked in and I've started to build a new terrain set with some packing foam I've kept in the shed for years. My old Dwemeri ruins fell apart - probably moisture/not enough salt to counteract the flour in the concrete mix. I saved most of the techy bits and am trying again - this time with the old PVA glue/tissue paper trick for texture instead of the floury paint.

I'm retaining the Dwarven ruin theme for the new pieces and that got me thinking about the Ashlander Exodites again. These are more notes for myself than anything, but I'll try and type up the current reality/next steps for this army:

I currently have all the bits for (in various stages of completion):

10 Rangers
10 Guardians (missing a weapons platform - maybe a guar?
5 Howling Banshees
5 Striking Scorpions (including two kroot hounds to turn into nix hounds)
1 Autarch/Phoenix Lord on foot
2 Warlocks/Spiritseers
5 Wraithguard (I'm going to do some work on an old metal Avatar to become a steam centurion and play as one of these, plus have plans for a Yagrum Bagarn conversion to round out the unit)
1 War Walker netch
1 Kwama warrior support weapon platform
3 dustback helamites to turn into Vypers

2 melta/flamer lookin guys that could easily count as Fire Dragons
a bunch of extra old DE - incubi, warriors, wyches and grotesques - as basis for conversions

so I had a look at 10th edition points - still haven't played a game yet - and figured out that with a few additions i can get to a proper 2k army relatively easily.

Currently in my shopping cart I have:

- 1 metal ranger to convert into Illic Nightspear to lead the 10-man Ranger squad
- 3 more metal warlocks, to run a unit of 4 as a bodyguard for the footseer, and have a spiritseer left over to run with the Wraithguard
- an old metal hellion to turn into a bike Autarch
- 3 flame atronachs from Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms to round out a unit of 5 Fire Dragons
- another kwama warrior from Reaper to build another support weapon platform
- 4 rogue trader metal guardians to be their crew

and I'm looking into commissioning a 3d model of a silt strider to print given I've tried and failed to source parts for a build or sculpt my own - to use one as a Falcon and one as a Wraith Serpent

Which should bring me up to a nice 2k list that can sit on my shelf and gather dust
Some inspiration pics:

Nix hound

Steam Centurion

Yagrum Bagarn

Guar

Call to Arms atronachs


Should hopefully be a real update soon.

Until then, thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Great work on the Tonks Tzurk! Glad there's a few more to ogle. Keen to see how you get on with your Ashlander Exodites, very cool conversion idea.

Sorry to hear about your roof leak, hope you got it sorted okay!

Thanks Olthannon! I swear I will get around to painting them soon - just been getting distracted...

Leak is all sorted, just had a roof tile shift in the storm - put it back and no more water.

I built these guys a while ago but never posted them - a headswap for the farseer in lotus pose to old school Drazhar, and a Kruellagh converted to look like Almalexia in her war get-up.



inspo:


My GS work is still awful but I'm hoping the paint will cover a lot of the mistakes - a kwama warrior and nix hound. Since the photo was taken I've chopped up some wraithguard guns and mounted them on the back of the kwama to count as the oomph of the support weapon. Not sure if I will do the same for the nix hound's striking scorp shuriken pistol.




The mace on the avatar is just a stand in until a big DA terminator one arrives. Fat boi on the grav platform needs a lot of work but I'm happy with the concept.



I spent a couple of days deep cleaning the shed and that meant the hobby corner got a look in too so I'm more excited to get out there and play around than I have been in a long time. Hopefully that translates into more updates soon!

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

One woud hope for more updates tzurk.

Mace Avatar is a surprisng choice, not a weapon normaly associated with eldar`.

Really dig the Issyria conversion! Always fun to see the naughty old Kruellagh return as well. Plenty of great ideas throughout

Very cool conversions Tzurk! The Yagrum Bagarn looks cool.

Thanks fellas!

@Not Online, yeah the mace is def non-traditional. Going to run this guy in the Wraithguard unit alongside floaty grav boi and trying to channel the aesthetic of the steam centurion rather than an actual Avatar. He'll get a tech backpack with exhausts and stuff and a pipe/wire running from his topknot as well. There are the beginnings of other plans for a proper Avatar later down the track...

Thanks @Boss Salvage! I bought the mini so long ago I had to google the name to remember which one it was...I spent ages looking for a mini in the right pose and she was a bit perfect minus the head. Went through a few different options before settling on Drazhar.

@Olthannon - thanks mate - and just for you, here he is in the first back-to-back update in a loooong time.

Put a bit more work into him, gave him a beard and some gross corprus weepings on his belly and bulked out his backpack.

Also found this ghost mini - I think from a Curse of Strahd D&D boardgame - that is a dead ringer for an Ancestor Ghost from Morrowind. Think I might have to use him somehow in the army, maybe as some type of seer or maybe a Howling Banshee.





Ancestor Ghost


Kwama got cannons and nix got a friend - mould lines still need clean up - for a relatively new kit they are really pronounced on the new Wraithguard!





Gonna keep plugging along on this group. Have been in a much buildier mood lately - haven't got my paint pants on just yet.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Definitely conversions I have not seen before tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Kruellagh is a great mini to base a conversion on. Plenty of creativity here!

Thanks fellas!

I should save these updates and drop one out every month or so rather than coming back and smashing out a years' worth of posting in a few weeks, but I've been feeling in the zone and trying a few things out. Maybe it's because I go back to work next week and I know I'm going to lose the freedom to do this sort of thing on a regular basis so I'm binging on it now.

Well, I added a bit more greebling to Yagrum and the Avatar - some pipes/tubes to add some interest to the grav platform for the former, and the backpack and some kneepads/groin armour for the latter. I am having a blast trying to get the most of out of this Wraithguard kit - there's still a heap of bits left on the sprue that will be recycled throughout the rest of this project.





I also built two more spheres to round out the unit. The first is based on the classic "running" pose of the Skyrim sphere, although it turns out it was a much more dramatic lean in my memory than in reality. The other eschews the classic wraithguard helmet top for a doubled layered bottom part...and I low-key love this design, and will definitely incorporate it again if I build more wraith units in future!





Happy little family.





I've decided I'm unhappy with the sloppiness of the nix hound faces as well and I'm gonna take another stab at it. I reckon I can redo the eyes myself with a bit of patience, and I have at least one set of mandibles leftover from the Reaper burrowing horror that I could steal, and I'm sure that I'll find something else if I dig around in the newly-sorted bitz box.

Love and peace to everyone and happy painting 8-)

Those ball racers are excellent.

Thanks mate! Listen to them tear across the ash wastes - nyeeeeorrrrrrrr

Something guar-y this way comes...Milliput was really friendly for the head, will GS some eyes and lip detail on once it's dry. He's too big to run as a weapon platform in the guardian squad, so he'll be a second support weapon.



Speaking of which, I added a power pack to the back of the kwama to integrate the guns a little - made from the wraithguard hip joint - I love this kit!



And a second go at the nix hound faces - much happier this time around! Need to do a bit of chitinous plating for them and they're ready to paint.



Still don't want to touch a brush!

I've hot glued a bunch of mushroom tops for basing but need to go and pick up some more toothpicks.

Want to get the dustback helamites built up into vypers next - but I'm back at work tomorrow.

Hopefully this won't be the last update for another 18 months...

if it is though, thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

The Nix Hounds are looking good, nice work!

Thanks mate! Very happy with how they are turning out. Patience is a virtue - that I usually have very little of - but it's paying off with them.

Latest update from the manic flurry -

Guar boy has details. Just needs some barding and he's ready for paint!





He's a happy boy!



And got the helamites together for my Vyper proxies. Fiddly kit, but gorgeous. Blue arms guy needs a head sculpted - probably another boiled netch helm. Not sure if I'll keep him though, I like the lines of the other two riderless bugs better. I also picture these as the adult form of the bugs that hang out with the guardians - and if they can shoot weapons unassisted when they were itty bitty baby bugs they can probably still shoot unassisted as big bug off bugs.













Need some tidy up, need mushrooms, need paint. Happy with how things are coming together overall for this force now!

Peace & love,

I'm enjoying watching the development of Guar boy. Surprisingly cute for a large fanged gun totting beast

Conceptually this is amazingly done.

Wow, glorious idea!

Loving these, the guar looks very happy to be doing good work.

I really like those dust bugs, I've been wanting to use them for some whacky conversion.

Thanks fellas!

Guar and his kwama friend received some barding.





I also de-ridered the bug as I wasn't happy with the silhouette. Someone from my hobby group mentioned these guys were a bit like Eldar bits but with an ork mindset - grab something and stick it on - and that resonates with me...

Mould lines will be cleaned up.





Spent some time tonight finishing off the bases of this new batch. Barring some clean up work and the new wrecking ball hand for the Avatar to arrive in the mail, these guys are now ready for paint!

Hopefully they get some sooner rather than later...



Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

That is some serious progress. And the mushrooms turned out great!

You have such creativity with this progress, every mini is something new and unexpected. Such fun to follow!

Woah! You’ve started the year with a bang tzurk! Loads of cool models coming together nicely

Very nice collection of works! Good assortment of creatures and weapons! Should be a scary force to fight against!

More brilliant work, love the bugs and mushrooms!

Thanks all - appreciate your kind words!

I've been slowly building a few extra friends (aka avoiding painting anything for as long as possible).

I'm running out of minis, so I'll soon either have to buy more - which mrs tzurk might have something to say about - or pick the brush back up...

First off I made a new farseer, inspired by the 3rd ed codex one which I loved as a kid. I'm still unsure whether I will go in and "bug up" the helmet more to match the Cephalopod style of the other farseers, or leave it closer to the original conversion.








I also made some warlocks. I love the dust adept helms with the vents, not sure on the mole crab helmet with the greeblies. I'm thinking I'll rip the greenstuff off him and give him a similar helm - and may even go back to the painted warlock and give him one too so they all match.



helm inspo:


Here's an autarch wayleaper and my Illic.



And some guardians/DAs/the guy with plasma will go in the fire dragons.





I have a few more guardian/DA bodies lying around and a few other interesting things. Will keep you posted!

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

Some seriously classic Eldar in there. Love the old Farseer conversion!

Excellent stuff the giant bug conversions are y favourite. Really loving the hellmites.

Those helamites make for some really evil crickets. I'm tempted to pick up some now, but I don't need another army.

Hey dakkaites, it's been probably the craziest year of my life which has led to inevitably less hobby time than I would have liked. Might write about it later. Not much progress has happened on the Ashlander Exodites front besides finally getting a silt strider printed up - but I forgot to take pics before it got packed up in the move.

today though, I ordered all the bits for my Lord Solar Leontus proxy - Lord Inquisitor Mohindra Hesh - with some headcanon starting to form around the ragtag nature of my guard force...





Hopefully have a more meaningful update soon. until then happy painting 8-)

Colour me intrigued with those bits! Good to see you back tzurk

Ok I really need to see how these bits will go together.

Those turbaned heads are amazing.

Aye, this is a wierd combination!

The potential is high for an epic mini. Captain Nemo skysurfing through the 41st millenium.

Great to see you posting Tzurk! Looking forward to seeing this Imperial Guard army.

Love those turbaned heads.

Good to see you back tzurk. Those heads crack me up: goes from cool looking bionics in the top row to looking like dudes in turbans wearing sunglasses in the bottom row.

Thanks guys, lovely warm fuzzies. Appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment!

There's a bit of lead time on the bitz, so in the mean time I'm trying to come up with a plan of attack for the guard.

I built the army for 8th edition, and gave every infantry squad a plasma gun because why not? They were 5 points! Spoiler has pics of the infantry - they're a mixed bunch of 60 Krieg, 20 Valhallan, 20 Catachan, 20 Steel Legion and 10 Vostroyans.



So, 10th came around and we've got 3 different data sheets for infantry, and can only take 6 of any given one...hmmm - but hey, upgrades are free!

I've been mulling it over and I think the least confusing way ahead is to play it like this:

- the 6 Krieg squads will be Krieg squads. They'll get a melta gun in each squad - I'll re-use the Solar Auxilia flamer guys I used to run as command squad meltaguns. They'll also get medics - I'm thinking a red cross on the helmet, backpack or both as a way to identify them easily.

- the Catachans will be Catachans. Since they can take 2 flamers per squad, I'll convert some lasguns into flamers. I won't bother un-plasmafying the plasma guys as who knows what 11th edition will bring, and it's easy enough to say the Catachans are running double flamers and my flamer guys are the flamer guy and the plasma guy.

- Valhallans and Steel Legion will be run as Cadians. I think the Solar Auxilia flamer guys will be fine to run as meltas here too, with a repaint to match their respective colours of course.

- the Vostroyans on their lonesome will be an Infantry Squad to sit in the backfield. Since heavy weapons are free now, I think I'll model them up a mortar and just sit 2 dudes with it on a 50mm base. I'll keep an eye out on the second hand sites for a proper mortar crew but Vostroyans always seem to come with an inflated price tag.

- I can't remember if I ever showed you guys my veterans proxies - they are still very WIP, a mix of old Cadians, various FW upgrades and Pig Iron heads - but I've had 30 of these guys on the backburner for years and I guess now they'll have to be run as Kasrkin. I'll need to take a look at their weapon options before
finishing them off.

- characters can all stay as they are. Plus the Lord Solar when he's done and that's pretty much the infantry portion of the army sorted.

Which leaves the tanks. I picked most of these up in a lot ages ago, right after I sold the dreadnought army. I need to make a few changes here and there but the only one I've made from scratch is one of the hellhounds.

I have 3 stock russes, 2 converted basilisks, 2 converted rhinos, and 2 converted hellhounds.

They all need various amounts of love to get them ready for the tabletop, and painting vehicles terrifies me. Two of the russes came with some pre-paint, so I will test out some whitewashing on them before I use it on the others. As the legions are mixed, so will be the tanks - I am picturing a bunch of different colour schemes present on these guys.

Anyway, I haven't sorted a hobby space at the new house yet and the minis are still in storage. I found my guard box today though and had a dig around to lay out some next steps, or I'd never actually get around to starting anything...

Here's a group shot of all the dudes I'm gonna play with for the foreseeable future. You can see the two vostroyans cramped on their 50mm base here. PS - what's the best way to remove dust from minis?



Think he'll fit in with a coat of grey?



Or tan? I might try a bit of a heat effect with these guys to make it even clearer they're meltas and not flamers.



Some work to do on the mantlets here. The lazy part of me (which is by far the biggest part) wants to just make a cloth cover out of paper towel and PVA and call it a day...



The two chimeras



The two hellhounds - I made the left one out of a tehnolog tank, and I am pretty sure I have a knight thermal cannon somewhere I wanted to put on the open topped one instead of the heavy bolter - otherwise I might just give it some beefed up heavy flamers and a crewman.



these two guys' lasguns seem like the easiest to just swap out the barrel and the clip for the nozzle and fuel tank of the flamers...



Here's the veteran/Kasrkin test model - the cadian base of these guys came in the lot with the tanks and will eventually be stripped and repainted...




and bonus assassins that I'd completely forgotten about...



So, heaps to do!

Need to find where the paints have gotten to and start getting some easy wins in.

I'll keep you posted.

Happy painting!

That really is a lot of work to do. I’m enjoying all the old rhino kit conversions in your tank pool. And all the Valhallans. They were a great characterful 2nd ed line.

Not sure about the dust situation. A big makeup brush might help to buff it off without too much abrasion. I have an old woodelves dragon with the same problem.

Extra points for use of the word de-plasmafication.

Thanks theCrowe!

Valhallans have always been my favourite of the old sculpts. Not sure GW's ever topped them in the Guard range.

Will give the makeup brush thing a go. Lucky mrs tzurk is very generous in her hand me downs!

Here are the flamers mocked up for the Catachans, and the "melta" flamers put on their bases.

The guy I originally bought the Krieg from hadf a bunch of these acrylic disks as his bases - he'd intended to paint the minis off the base and them leave them clear so they'd match whatever terrain was on the board.

Fiddly buggers though - double stickers to peel off, doesn't take glue super well. Anyway.

Feels good to hobby again, even starting this small!





Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone.

Nice looking army there, Tzurk. I especially like the Vostroyans. I like the tank conversions as well.

Yeah, awesome army! Love the catachans with their fur coats!

I’m with theCrowe and the big makeup brushes to clear the dust. I’ve heard others using cans of compressed air too. Some of the tanks look pretty dust laden, so the latter might have a bit more luck dislodging bits

I love seeing your army tzurk! It feels like it's been a really long time since I last saw them.

I use a large make up brush for the removal of dust to, mate. Nice to see an update from you.

Thanks guys! Luckily mrs tzurk is pretty generous with her old brushes so will definitely give that a crack.

In the meantime, some paint has touched a model for the first time this year.

I think the flameltas ended up matching okay.

Steel Legion:


Valhallans:


I tried to do hazard stripes on the gas bottles for these guys but quickly got pissed off and went simple. Oh well - baby steps! Plus they match the plasma and will stand out easily on the table.



I was pleasantly surprised with how my plan to whitewash the tank turned out. I think it will be fun to have a bunch of vehicles with different camos but matching whitewashing.



I think up next I'll keep going with the details on this tank and have my first finished vehicle in a looooong time.

Then trundle through the rest of the vehicles - and hopefully the Lord Solar bitz have shown up by then!

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting,

Amazing job. I do hope gw brings out the flamer and rotor cannon veletarii soon, if only seeing more of yor winter guard !

Love a mighty Imperial Guard army, no finer site on the tabletop battlefield!

I like your various guard vehicles too, some cool minis in there.

Good luck getting it all painted!

Your guard are awesome. I too have a 'mish mash' army of mostly old metal or plastics. They're my cityfight army, so I mixed all the models up to represent a regiment that had been stuck in urban fighting and thus everyone was equipped differently. Then I bought Vostroyans when they went on made to order and, well, yet another guard army. I love how you've painted them up, and can't wait to see how the whitewash scheme comes out on all the tanks!

Gotta love those welders masks. The gritty finish on the tank works well, too. Lots of cool character.

Thanks everyone!

I agree that a massed IG force is one of the wonders of the Warhammer world - and the more regiments represented the better!

Cityfighting guard (was it a White Dwarf mag or a Codex?) were a big inspiration for the combined arms of my own force and is also why I call them snowfighting

Here are two finished tanks ready to roll out...





It's starting to look like a real army!



Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Those are some gritty tanks, looking good!

The whitewash looks to have unified the tanks really well as a single army, but kept them unique

The ammount of pain, making first such a nice camo only to winterise it afterwards. Hats off to you!

They feel a bit chilly just looking at them, nice work.

Thanks for the comments fellas!

Bit of progress to share.

First off, I am happy to report the makeup brush worked a treat for helping to smooth over years of neglect.

Before:



After - much better!



I think this is the most perfect barrel I've ever drilled.



With my two chimeras, I felt that the half-track read well as an APC. The other, however, was clearly a rhino with a turret and given the similarities to the hellhounds I wanted to make sure it was more recognisable as a chimera. What's the most iconic part of one? The goofy lasgun array...



Here are the two chimeras ready for weathering. I was planning to give them the same whitewash treatment I'd given the russes, but now I'm not sure - I quite like the clean grey! I will have to test it out on a base or something and see if I like it.







I also paper-towelled, PVA'd and primered up the mantlet covers for the basilisks. I'm not in love with how they look, hopefully paint helps rectify some of that.





Will keep plugging away at the armour for now.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

The basilisks will look better painted. Right now my eyes don't resolve it as mantlet covers as it looks like greenstuff.

Tanks are looking awesome Tzurk, nice looking conversions. The basilisks are really cool, like what you did with the mantlets.

Vehicle fleet shaping up nicely, I think those Bassies will turn out fine. I like the mongrel APCs/ Hellhounds, this will be the ultimate rag tag bag force!

Just discovered this blog, love what I'm seeing! Great kitbashes

A load of interesting conversions there Tzurk.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks for the comments fellas!

I rushed through the first basilisk last night - my plan was to go with the same grey scheme as on the chimeras and then test out the whitewashing.





I thought it turned out ok, so I added it to the little rhinomera as well. I think I'll keep the halftrack clean as I like the idea of its driver being so in love with it that he balks at the idea of some conscript rubbing it all over with a dirty mop.





I don't love the gun mantlet, but I don't hate it either. I like it a lot better than a gaping hole being there, and the current solution was a lot easier than trying to build a shield or something else to cover it from scratch.

I think I'll do the other basilisk next - I'm thinking a nice military green to mix it up a bit. Maybe with the whitewash sponged on rather than painted to mix it up a bit. And a khaki mantlet cover rather than the brown to mix it up a bit. Variety is the spice of life.

Need to mix up some mud and go nuts on all the tracks too, but I might wait until I've painted them all up to do that.

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

Great motorpool developing here tzurk. I reckon a khaki mantlet (never knew that was their name) would work well as that’s the colour I’ve seen them irl.

Also, that was a nicely drilled barrel!

Thanks gobert!

I am definitely having more fun with the tanks than I thought I would. I have been dreading painting them for literal years because they are my first real big vehicles - I had those 3D printed tanks at first, but I always felt they weren't up to even the averageness of my usual standard!

Here's a green boy to go along with his grey friend.





Feels a bit like those old fighting games where you could unlock palette swaps for your characters.



I like the green though, I think it will get a run on the last Leman Russ - he's just missing an engine bit that's on order atm before he gets some paint, along with the exhaust bit from a GSC Goliath truck that I'm hoping will work as an inferno cannon for the rhino-hellhound.

The hellhound made from the tehnolog tank is up next. I'm not super proud of the build so hopefully the paint again does some work for me there! He's gonna be painted up to match the darker green of my Vostroyans.

Here they are if you forgot what they look like:





Hopefully another tank to report soon. Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone! 8-)

Yes, now they're painted the mantlets look great!

Winter really suits the Vostroyans too. They are sure to beat any Space Napoleon.

Thanks Cap'n Facebeard! I'm glad to hear the mantlets worked.

Vostroyans are definitely some of my favourite minis. Wish I'd stocked up back when they were less than $20 a trooper!

Speaking of Vostroyans, here are some with their hellhound. A lot flashier/more colourful than the other tanks, but I think that fits their vibe.











Still waiting on bits for the next two tanks and my Lord Solar proxy.

I have a HEAP of the Morrowind Eldar sitting primed and unpainted...

We'll see!

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Does that count as a Devil Dog? I guess it could be either.

I remember when Vostroyans first came out the studio army's tanks were all embellished with bits from the building kits at the time to look especially grand

I am loving your Vostroyans and tanks. I love the models and your paintjob is excellent! I'm a sucker for a guard blog so I'll be back.

Thanks guys!

Cap, I am not too sure what the difference is but I am pretty sure the last time I got a game in was 8th ed and my group is pretty casual so I'd say as long as its fast and flamey it'd be a goer.

I've been mucking around getting some basecoats on the tiger tank. I'm happy with how the goliath exhaust works as a flamethrower. I bought a little Valhallan heavy bolter crewman to sit up behind the gun, will add him in once he gets here and is painted up.

The orange isn't photographing well; the top-down pick is closest to what it looks like in real life. I am struggling a bit with the colours I've got to get it a bit more saturated but will keep trying.

I think the stripes are up next...!







Started putting together the base for my Lord Solar proxy. Got to hit that 100mm height but looks like it won't be an issue once I add the sci-fi surfboarding Sikh.



Lastly and least interestingly, my Vostroyan mortar team arrived and has been based and primed and ready for painting.



Not a huge amount of progress, but progress nonetheless.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Be funny to have a gigantic rock with a tiny man on a tiny horse at the top

Hahahaha...I'm sure I could find an old Warmaster Empire General or something - that's a crack up.

It's starting to get stripey in here...

That is a remarkably effective pattern, for all the garish colors! I can see it on some hell-planet on which Carborundum or some such element is the predominant soil component. Rock on!

Ha!!! That makes me think of the old Rogue Trader colour schemes for tanks, it looks good! I think the cannon needs some tidy up or heavy soot work tho.

The bassies came out great. What is your whitewash method?

tzurk,

Some old Rogue Trader Marine camouflage, wonderful.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks fellas! Definitely has some RT vibes going on there - that's a blast from the past. Beaky tigerstripe marines...the glory days of 40k.

@Meer_Cat, I like to imagine the commander cops a lot of flak for it on desert/snow/jungle/urban worlds, but the one day HIS is the tank that blends in - he'll never let 'em live it down...

@Ragsta, hopefully the cannon looks better in these pics. Let me know if you think I can improve it! The whitewash is just white either drybrushed on with a scraggly old brush in the case of the grey tanks, following the lines that I imagine a grunt with a mop would. For the green tanks it's a couple layers stippled/splotched straight on.

Here's the finished tank (barring mud that they'll all eventually get - I picked up a tub of Vallejo Thick Mud that I'm excited to try out). Colonel Boris is standing in for the yet-to-arrive gunner!









And got the green done on the plasma Russ. This is my last unpainted tank! They've been sitting (uncovered) on the (dusty ass) shelf for so many years. Gonna have to celebrate once she's all finished.



Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

I love how perfect and badass Colonel Boris looks as the gunner for that Tank. I'm sorry he's only a stand in. I would also love to see the gunner peaking out from a tiger striped camo-cloak draped over the back

Second the motion for a gunner with a tiper-striped camo pattern cloak- chicks dig the stripes, man!

Hahaha, thanks fellas! I might have to have a play around with a camo cover, maybe white instead of orange to add a bit of pop.

Anyway, some progress on the plasma russ, washes down on the metallic parts and black down on the guns. Needs highlighting and plasmifying, then ready for the whitewash. Then it's mud o'clock for everyone!





Thanks for lookin and happy painting everyone 8-)

This is the best no-brakes Tank train since Tonks.

I’m loving the tiger stripes Rhino variant.
Was there ever such a thing in real life? A tiger striped armoured vehicle?

Loving the tiger stripes! Such a cool looking vehicle, especially with the white belly. Will it be getting knocked back with the white wash too?

Very fancy! Terra correct tigris camo.

Thanks guys!

@theCrowe, I'm not sure but somehow i doubt it. I am pretty sure tank camos were few and far between in the early days, and those that were around were pretty boring.

Plus, if one DID have tiger stripes, it would obviously have been the best tonk, which meant it would have survived every battle and we'd know about it today...

@gobert, no whitewashing for the pretty boy. I was scared enough adding mud to the pattern...

Thanks Not Online!!!

Here's the plasma russ finished up.









And the start of The Great Muddening!

A group pic before. Why have one colour tank when many colour tank just as good?



Then the process...I love this Vallejo Thick Mud. It's a beautiful consistency, goes on easily, dries quickly. Only gripe is that I picked up a pot of Black Mud by accident when a few shades of brown exist - just means it needs painting, which should hopefully get done today.

Here's where they currently sit:












Very happy with them, I think the mud helps tie them together as another consistent element.

Few quick passes with an old brush today while watching the Olympics and I'll have the armour section finished! Wahoo!

Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

Looking good. I like that not-Chimera armoured car

Some good lookin mud there!

A good group of tanks.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks Cap, squall and Cap!

Progress. I painted up the crewman for the tiger tank and put him in his home.








I painted the mud up for all the tanks.









I also gave some extra details to easily pick out the Kreig medics. Throwing medicinal grenades of course 8-) I sometimes see these guys up close and notice how rough they are, but then I remember I painted something like 80 of them in just a couple days and realise that with the sheer number of bodies in this army I'll take the quantity of having a fully painted force over the quality I know I am capable of with more time and effort.





And while digging around for a backpack to give my Lord Solar, I found this guy and thought he'd make a decent enginseer. Put a hat and some cogs on him and he'll find a nice home in the army. I think I'll paint him to match the Vostroyans - I'm enjoying that green colour atm and his steampunk aesthetic seems to match in well with them. He's an old Reaper mini, can't remember the name off the top of my head but I had plans years and years ago of running him as an artificer in a DND campaign.







and i couldn't resist some group shots of the different tanks with their regiment buddies 8-) happy families!












Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

I don't post many PIPs - and it's easy to remember why - they usually look hideous throughout, and as soon as I think "they're looking okay" that means they're finished!

Base coats are mostly down on these guys, needs (quite) a bit of tidy up and then washing/highlighting can begin.

I am happy with how suitably Vostroyan the enginseer looks.

I am so mad at myself for gluing the mortar dudes to their base before painting...what was I even thinking??



The colour of the wrench may change to green, I'm not loving how Christmassy it's looking at the moment between the white furry hat, the beard and the green/white/red combo.

I also dug these guys out as I'd forgotten about them until I started thinking I had nearly painted up everything I could for this guard army. They'll probably be the next thing to paint. I'm thinking I will eschew the usual black/blue skinsuit for them and go with a dark metallic one washed in a matching colour for each of them - inspired by the geo-daemons. Could be hit or miss - I guess we will see!



Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

All looking very good. You could put white stripes on the wrench and it could be a candy cane!

Impressive mantlets, Chimera and halftrack builds! Lovely extension of the Rogue Trader Rhino aesthetic. The paintjobs look sweet on both vehicles and Vostroyan infantry.

I am very partial to the tiger striped tank...that brings back memories of Rogue Trader.

Cheers,

CB

I'm looking forward to the assassain force.

Thanks everyone!

Vostroyans got tidied up and hit with a wash. Amazing the difference it makes...

Just highlighting to go and then it's on to the assassins.

I may end up keeping the red wrench, it's growing on me. With or without the candy stripes...





thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

Love the color scheme for your First Born! Very unique.

And monkey wrenches are red; it's well known.

Now then Tzurk. I'm putting my commissar's cap on for this one.

Firstly, the vehicles are coming out great, it's pretty cool that the different colour schemes are pulling together so nicely under white wash and weathering!

However, the gunner to your tiger stripe special? Well he isn't even wearing pimp shades! I'm sorry. mate, but you can consider this a Special Order 66...

Lovely colour scheme for the Vostroyans, very different, look for to seeing more!

In all seriousness the wrench looks good and makes him stand out from the others even more

Great job on the tonks, they look great all muddied up. Love the sound of the metallic suits for the assassins, very glam rock!

Thanks everyone!

Apologies, Commissar Ragsta, we'll make sure trooper Rolf gets his standard issue cool dude equipment as befits his station on the tiger tank ASAP!

Vostroyans are finished, have started on the assassins!

I've never done the base this early in the game before, it's throwing me off a bit as it's usually the last thing I do before I call them done - but I figured as long as I was waiting for their washes to dry I'd speed things up a bit.

I like the look so far - have a minor hiccup with my Carroburg Crimson going all thick and gloopy and giving off a bunch of gloss. It may or may not end up being an issue. I think I am going to stop buying GW paints in general though - my white is refusing to stay closed again despite the rim being completely clean and pressed down completely shut at the end of every paint session. I have a few Reaper/Vallejo paints already in the collection, and since I am at a point where I don't really need to colour match anymore I think I'll just pick whatever colours I like from whatever range...that live in less ridiculously designed bottles.









Thanks for lookin everyone and happy paniting 8-)

I like the different tints on each Assassin, and also that you didn't make the Callidus the pink one

Oh I love the teal-green on the guard. I went purple with my vostroyans and they benefit from a non-red color scheme as much as the next guard army! Assassins are looking good as well. You must be happy about the incoming Imperial Agents Codex.

Thanks for the comments guys!

I'm liking the tints too Cap, they're turning out less Power Rangers/Wiggles-y than I had feared.

all this talk of purple Vostroyans is useless without pics blockade...quit holding out on us! I haven't actually seen any of the new rules, but in theory absolutely - especially if there are rules for more inquisitorial type dudes to open up some conversion opportunities later on!

Some progress, still a ways to go. Went with dark grey for all the leathery bits as my usual brown seemed too garish. Then used the lime green as an accent colour for all of them. The metallics still need a lot of love. My favourite parts to paint are the butt cheeks 8-)










Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

It would be cool to make a Callidus conversion that was just one of your opponent's troops (Ork, termagant, eldar guardian, etc) armed with a c'tan phase sword and neural disruptor

That is an interesting idea for sure. Surprised I haven't seen it yet!

The Callidus and Culexus are my favourite - apart from the alliteration, I think the "under"-highlighting with the silver paint really shows up on their bodysuits compared to the other two.









All together...






and just for fun...



Have made a lot of progress on the guard this last few months and feeling pretty good about it.

I might try and get a start on painting some of the Ashlander Exodites before the Lord Solar proxy bits arrive at the end of this month. There are a LOT of them sitting unpainted...

Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

Haven't had time to paint anything yet, but I am excited to get a start on the Exodites - gonna get on to the Wraithguard first I think.

Did manage to have a play around with this today. lady tzurk jr has kindly donated one of her rattles to the cause... and I think it's gonna make a lovely big daemon, maybe a Keeper of Secrets. Will have a play with moving it up or down on the rod, depending on how other parts work out. I don't love any of the Christmas decos I've got at the moment for it, but I have ordered some ninja stuff to see if that works - see the mock-up for a first draft.

The general idea is the egg floating in the middle, surrounded by a few big columny bits and a crown on top. All painted silver and swirled up with colour washes as per the rest of the geometry daemons of course.

Let's gooooooooo...

Also trying out dakka's hosting for the first time, usually I use imgur. I can't remember what I didn't like about the dakka gallery that pushed me away but it seemed pretty painless this time around.

Want to try and do something about the HUGE images!

edit: oh good, they're still huge ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

resized themmanually in paint and then reuploaded. there's got to be an easier way...





Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

Will definitely be checking this out. I love a good conversion that could technically be anything but is stylistically one thing. Evil Egg coming to get you!

Very good work.

That could look very promising, though you may run into, well , stability issues with the Egg?

Do you have any idea how to hold it upwards?

A hearty huzzah for the Assassins. Nice work on some great old minis.

I love your geometry daemons tzurk. Looking forward to this new one.

As soon as I saw the Evil Egg, I straight away thought of the ships from "Contact" X-D

Love what I see her tzurk, good luck with the next venture :-)

The assassins look great! Love the purple on the Cullexus, has a great shine on his butt!

Egg will be giving me nightmares shortly!

Thanks fellas!

@NotOnline - the egg's on a 3mm brass rod like the rest of the big daemons in the army, she'll be right, and will work out similar pinning for any other floaty bits.

I sat down to paint the wraith guard last night and then realised if I had Yagrum Bagarn and a bunch of dwarven centurions, it only made sense to have a Divayth Fyr to lead them - so I set about making him up as a spiritseer.

For reference, he's likely the oldest living mortal in the world of Morrowind and is an incredibly powerful wizard who lives holed up in his mushroom tower with his four daughter-wife-clones. Underneath his tower is a bit of a dungeon full of evil-fantasy-cancer-ridden patients as well as our mate Yagrum and an enormous amount of loot hidden behind maximum difficulty locks. He's cool, calm and confident, and I had some ideas about him that I thought could translate to miniature form.

Here's inspo:





And here's where we're at. It's an Incubi Bodyguard from the Vect kit as the base, with a Wych head and Eldrad's staff top.

In my head, I had swapped his left arm for the arm of a regular Incubi that is essentially a mirror of the right - at ease and unarmed. The staff is a bit blingy, but a) it just fits really well, b) I've already done a signifant amount of carving metal on this guy to do the head swap, and c) the staff is actually a pretty close fit to the artifact Staff of Hasedoki.

I'm not totally sold though and may end up cutting it off just to see what the other arm looks like and if I have to reattach it, that's what we'll do.

Front


Back


Staff


I've also had a play with a warpspider exarch who loses the giant bulky backpack.

I love it!





I'm excited for the warp spiders. At least one of them will be made from a metal reaper harpy turned into a winged twilight, and I have 5 metal troopers plus the exarch - so I'll have at least 2 extra bodies to play around with to see if I can remove the backpack from another one.

Who knows what I'll get back on to the next time inspiration strikes.

I'm unhappy with any developments on the egg at the moment, I bought two different sets of those ninja sticks from eBay and one is way too big and the other is way too small and I'm not sure I like the aesthetic enough to bother finding the goldilocks version. I'll have a look through the Christmas decos box and see what we can come up with, but it's on the back burner for now.

Thanks for lookin' everyone and happy painting 8-)

This is looking cool, Tzurk I'm looking forward to seeing it progress.

Loving the spiritseer. The staff and head swap really work.

A little bit of greenstuff and zip! zoom! zippity bop! you have what you envisioned. Great work in a minimalist style!

The spiritseer is giving me Ming the Merciless vibes. Very cool and a nice seamless conversion

Thanks everyone!

I'm glad the staff seems to be well-received because it's definitely grown on me and I'm gonna stick with it.

I noticed the original bodyguard mini had a backplate with antennae or something coming off it - mine must have been lost along the way, and left a weird, bland nub on the spiritseer's back.

Found this bit in the bottom of my Eldar box and put it right in place - I think it came from a waistplate of a wraithguard that I'd cut up for something. He's been based and is ready for priming and painting.



While lady tzurk jr had her nap today I spent some time hacking off the warp jump generator on the back of another warp spider.

It was about this point I started thinking oh god, what have I done?



But a bit more cutting and filing and I got to a point where I was happy enough. I really like the sleek silhouette without the "wings" sticking out the back.



There's some sculpting work (shudder) to do to in tidying up the back, but super happy with it at this stage. the symbol on the antenna of the admech backpack has always looked suspiciously like an Eldar one to me...





While searching for bits for the egg, I also found the little pyramid studs I used to make the furies. Since furies don't exist anymore and I'm likely to use them as daemonettes, I had been thinking about making a herald to go with them - I thought I'd used all the studs and would have to order more, but I realised I now have all the bits to throw together a herald.

So I did! I like it, but I'm unsure of how best to position the kites. "arms down" I think looks better on its own, but "pointing" matches the aesthetic and the movement of its minions.

Would be interested to know what dakka thinks!





I have more pyramids than just two and tried a number of combinations with 3/4 triangles but they all ended up either looking like he was wearing a hat or a skirt.

edit: I think I need to remember to take all my photos landscape, even of single minis, as a workaround to the "massive picture" problem...

double edit: I worked it out!! hahahaha. check the difference between the first and second pics on this post. will do it this way from now. wooooohooo

AND I can upload straight to daka from my phone rather than emailing them to myself, downloading them onto the computer, uploading them to imgur and then linking in my post?? Think of all the extra time I'll have for hobbying!

haaaa.

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

I think pointing forward looks too much like a Star Wars TIE interceptor
I'm curious what it would look like attached more at the corner of the wide ends, with the flat area flared out 45 degrees. I'm thinking like arms attached at the shoulders. I don't know if I am describing well, though.

Hahaha, that's hard to unsee! Even so I don't mind honestly, it blends in well with the "star destroyer" shape of the daemonettes...

I tried a few other configurations, couldn't get two "shoulders" to work, but four seems alright.







Hopefully these pics are a much friendlier size now!

I like the aesthetic, it keeps the sense of movement, and kinda looks like a flower blossoming which is a phrase that has all sorts of lovely Slaaneshi connotations.

Undecided yet if I like it more than two pointies but will have a think. A think while I paint.

I really need to get painting...

I like the look with the four pointies,and thanks for trying my idea. Good point about matching the daemonettes as well. Good luck deciding which you like best, to go with

Thanks Syro_, it was mucking around with two that led to four so thank you for the advice!

Finally got some paint down on the first wraithblade. This is one and a half episodes of House worth of work after the kids were all asleep last night - essentially basecoats and a wash down on most areas.

The metallics and base are all pretty standard for the army so I'm going to really try and push the pale/sickliness of the flesh with this guy as a point of interest.







And a reminder of the inspiration for this guy:



Hopefully posting here is good motivation to keep working on him.

Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

That dude needs to take a Neosporin bath.

Mini looks good. Definitely has the same vibe. I like the Herald with 4 "wings" the most. And finally, I will never not be able to see an Eldar rune on the admech pack.

Thanks youwashock! I've tried out a few other combos and keep coming back to the four pointing forward so I think that one's the keeper.

The similarity on that antenna is shocking hey!

I've done a little more work on the first wraithblade - getting ready to call him done and have started on the next one.

No pics of those yet, but I did receive a care package from Reaper of more glorious metal for the Exodites.



From left to right, we've got a harpy to turn into a Winged Twilight and use as a warp spider. Going to cut her arms off at the shoulder and attach her wings directly to her torso that way.

Then there's a pactmaster of Kopesh that I'm going to cut the collar off, sculpt a big gross elephant head on him to make him an Ascended Sleeper and use him as Eldrad Ulthran.

Then there's the 3D printed silt strider I had done up a while back but don't think I ever got around to posting pics of. He's got some fire beetles on his base that I'll sculpt scrib heads for - the lil fellas are too iconic to not have them somewhere in the army. He'll get some guns and detailing and run as a wave serpent or falcon.

There's two Red Mantis Assassins who I thought fit perfectly into the Morrowind aesthetic due to the elf ears and bug armour. They'll join the Striking Scorpions.

Then a beetle who will be painted up as a mudcrab and given a heavy weapon to join the Guardians, a fire elemental to join the Fire Dragons as a Skyrim-style Flame Atronach, and Monique DuNoir who will get a shield swap and join the scorps as a Golden Saint.

Spoilered inspo pics below.



I think the only thing I have planned for this army that I haven't spoken about yet is my Yncarne - which will be made from this heart...



this Ghast...



and this 3d printed mask...



to try and represent Dagoth Ur guarding over the Heart of Lorkhan. Inspo spoiled again below.




Exciting times ahead!

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

What a grand and intoxicating innocence...

Some serious metal conversion work going on tzurk! The trimmed warp spiders look super cool. Glad to see you’re settling in the four spoked herald, definitely the best look

Thanks fellas!

Still no paint progress but found a little bit of time today to go over some of the new arrivals.

The mantis warriors got a pistol each, our little mudcrab got a gun and a power pack, the atronach got put on her base (and I love Vallejo Thick Mud so much I filled the gap on her back where the wings were supposed to go with it rather than greenstuff), got the general shape of the head for the ascended sleeper, and lopped off the arms and pinned the wings for the winged twilight.



Fun fun fun.

Thanks for lookin and happy painting everyone 8-)

Dude, amazing work. Converting work is fun. Working with metal is way tricky, so I definitely cannot wait to see how it turns out.

Yncarne idea looks to be one tell-tale heart of a story. Can't wait to read it.

Thanks mate! I do really love working with metal, it can be frustrating at times but there's a sense of accomplishment that goes along with taking what was once a solid hunk of metal and transforming it into something new.

The body for my Lord Solar proxy finally arrived, so I threw him together and primed him up. He'll likely move to the front of the painting queue so I can tie a bow on the guard force for now and maybe take some army shots, but lately that queue is all waiting no moving forward...8-)





Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting

I think you’ve gone beyond the humble tactical rock there and created a strategic rock! loving the heavy metal conversions too,

Hey friends,

Been a little while, not a huge amount of progress to show, but have finished the Wraithblades and their Spiritseer for the Ashlander Exodites.

Sorry for quality of photos! They do look better when you click through to the gallery.

Will try and get some group shots in the near future.



















Finished the build of the Silt Strider too - he's now primed and ready for painting.



Hopefully find some more time to keep chugging along soon.

Merry Christmas everyone, thanks for looking and happy painting 8-)

All good there tzurk

Happy New Year.

CB

Happy New Year tzurk! That stilt strider is sick! Love it. The wraith blades are kinda freaky right their ball wheels, good job. May your 2025 be filled with little painted soldiers!

Avatar conversion has turned out really cool. Can't wait to see that big bug get painted!

Happy New Year Tzurk! I saw these pop up on Reddit earlier, fantastic updates. Such a cool theme and you really nailed the Morrowind vibe.

Thanks everyone!

It always seems lately that there's a long time between posts. I don't have too much to share, either. Here's what I've been working on lately.

The weapons platforms - guar and kwama - are finished up.





I think I've shared this warlock before too - but I've decided that all my warlocks will have telvanni dust adept helmets to go along the farseers' cephalopod ones, so I chopped off the antlers and repainted this one's helmet.





And here's what's ready to be painted.



Some heroes. I'm very proud of my Sotha Sil (second from left) - he was really thrown together from my bitz box without a plan and I'm quite happy with the way he turned out. His mask was infuriating - I hate sculpting

The head on Asurmen is just a placeholder - from an old chaos archer - until I can get my hands on an appropriately mohawked Eldar one.





Some Fire Dragons - including Taal Spellsinger, one of my favourite ever models, and the rest of the Dire Avengers (pauldrons) and guardians (no pauldrons).





Striking Scorpions, including a Golden Saint with the rare Daedric towershield.





Warp Spiders including a Winged Twilight.





and Dark Reapers.





I'd like to promise some painted minis soon but who knows! Until then, thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

Good to see you’ve been keeping yourself busy mate. Lovely work on the exodites completed and upcoming

Great to see you updating Tzurk. Great bit of work in those conversions. Really look the part.

Thanks fellas! Glad to see you're still around.

Some painting progress - the Warlocks are all done.





And because it seems I can't leave anything unconverted, I've tweaked a few extra models as well.









Ascended Sleeper is ready for priming. No idea what I'm going to use him as. Originally thought Eldrad, but he looked too squashed on the smaller base. He's on a 40mm now, so maybe the start of a new unit of wraiths or a Phoenix Lord proxy or something.









Some extra photos of my Sotha Sil farseer/warlock/spiritseer/whatever, just because I think he's cool.







And lastly, I think I'll use these guys as my first ever entry in the Dakka monthly painting contest to hopefully build a bit of momentum to get the rest of the army painted. They're the "creature filler" for my striking scorpions unit and the mudcrab weapons platform for my guardians, so they fit the bill for "sidekicks" - right?



Hopefully more updates soon - they seem to come in waves.

Thanks for lookin everyone and happy painting 8-)

Coool conversions as always Tzurk!

Love the coven of warlocks, superb job on them! The new conversions look good already and good luck in the comp

Thanks fellas! I was quite happy with how the warlocks turned out in the end - that doesn't happen often...

Eagle-eyed followers of the contest thread may have noticed I got the hounds and mudcrab painted up the very next day.






And I've also finished another farseer - this time on foot - and a Howling Banshee. Spoilered inspo for them below:








It means I've only got one more foot farseer to finish off the seer council, so she'll be the next project!

Thanks for looking everyone and happy painting 8-)

Aeldari crab gun carrier
That is amazing for exodites, i just finaly got what it was. Well done!

Yes love the mudcrab cannoneer!

The warlock council look brilliant with the different colours.

You absolutely nailed the glass blades, you must be dead pleased with that.

You should send some of these to Michael Kirkbride, he is a huge Warhammer fan.

Love the yellow on the warlock, so vibrant, a real contrast to the rest of the force. That crab weapon platform is too cute!

Always a pleasure to see updates from you, comrade Tzurk. I really like what you're doing with the warlocks and farseers- lovely painting and I agree that the glass effect looks awesome! I used to use an Orc barbarian/ ranger type with glass armour in Oblivion

Where did those Striking Scorpion hounds come from? They look great! I love the mud crab too.

Thanks guys!

Glad the crab is getting some love.

I am definitely pleased with how the glass effect looks - and also that it's relatively simple given how often it's popping up across the army.

@Olthannon, Michael Kirkbride left an approving comment on one of my reddit posts once - it's right up there with my wedding day and the birth of my children as the top moments in my life

@gobert thanks mate, the yellow was always going to need to pop if I wanted to stick to the source material, I was worried it would clash with the muted colours of the rest of the army but it seems to have turned out alright!

@Ragsta good to see you mate, thanks for stopping in. The nix hounds are made from the old style kroot hounds with their heads chopped of and some gribbly bits added!

Bit of progress - I don't often show PIP in here, but I've got the last footseer as well as the ascended sleeper on the go. She's had a wash and a highlight and needs some finishing and clean-up work, particularly around the cloth - he's just had a basecoat so far.

I think I'm going to take the purple tinge out of the lighter part of his robe entirely and repaint the bug parts purple with daubed white to match the farseers' helmets. Their (cloth, rather than chitin) hoods are also purple in-game so it's a two-for-one change.





Also, some work on the yoni egg Keeper of Secrets. I've been mucking around without much luck on how to build out around the central piece and finally think I've landed on something I like.



Been in a good hobby space lately, let's hope it continues!

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Sh!t the nightmare daemons are back! This one seems ok though Lovely work on the chitin, is that a cast of. Tyranid back?

Thanks mate! Don't let her demure nature fool you, she's just as bad for your psyche as her lil friends.

Big girl's all pinned together (painstaking business that) and primed for painting.



The chitin bits are actually from the Ashwaste Nomad Dustback Helamites kit. I've used the main bug bodies to make my Vypers earlier in the build, and their heads and a few extra bits have popped up here and there. Have gotten a lot of mileage out of it - it's a great little kit. Apologies for the absolutely awful quality of the below photos...

Firstly I cut a bunch of dudes' heads off



But don't worry, I've got sacrificial lambs.



They live!



And now I've got a few extra bodies, too, even though the build for this army project is mostly coming to an end. I think I'll keep the ranger - I have a few double-ups of the old metal sculpts in my 10-man unit and he's a unique pose so I'll figure out a new head (maybe an Ash Waste Nomads one!) and set him up with his boys.

Not sure what'll come next - maybe paint on the geo-daemon though since they're usually pretty quick and it's been fun to return to an old project.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

That’s some serious work to decapitate those metal minis, good stuff!

Thanks mate! There's always something satisfying about converting metal minis, but yes there is some blood sweat and tears about it lol.

Spent some time last night putting some colours down on the Keeper of Secrets.

I think I'm going to call it Vex, Her Love Egg Unrelenting





Next step - washes, snow, and the galaxy effect in the central eye. Having a lot of fun getting back to the army that brought me back to wargaming in the first place.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Oh no that looks terrifying (ly cool). The galaxy eye sounds amazing, can't wait to see it.

Quite otherworldly, that model. Always count on finding ideas off the beaten path in this thread. Refreshing, really. Nice job!

Thanks fellas!

She's finished.

Vex, Her Love Egg Unrelenting

In her silence, we heard the screaming of stars.
In her light, we saw our flesh flayed into radiance.

In her motion, halos turned, slicing soul from mortal coil.
In her stillness, we beheld the promise of eternity.

In her silver shell, desire was made divine.
In her pulse, we felt the undoing of reason.

In her gift, we were remade.
In her wound, we found the sweetest ecstasy.

In her worship, we became worthy.
In her love, we found our doom.
And we rejoiced.













I'm also working on some terrain for this months' painting competition - Weathered. I've thrown some gubbins on those cheapo storage crates I showed a while back, given them some colour and a wash with craft acrylics. They're darker in real life; I think the next step is to sponge on some highlights and then re-wash and see how we're looking.





Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Oh yes that is spot on. Reminds me of a lot of the Daemonic entities in Dan Abnetts books. Very otherworldly and alien.

Really like the colour scheme.

Thanks Olthannon!

Otherworldy and alien is pretty much the brief. A departure from the very Moorcockian Chaos of the model range towards a more Lovecraftian view - in the "eldritch and unknowable" sense rather than a tentacley one.

I've never really settled on a headcanon of whether these are the true forms of the daemons underneath or instead of all the "responsive to human emotion" stuff, or the end result of a mortal mind trying to comprehend something truly incomprehensible - translating it into something mundane to avoid going mad from the revelation. I'm sure I've had other thoughts along the way but these are the two competing theories in my head at the moment.

Anyway, it had been a few years since I'd done anything new for the army so it feels nice to add her to the shelf!

Copy pasted below update from the painting contest thread because I'm really happy with how its turning out:

Been playing around with the best way to get photos of the terrain, and I've gone from too light to too dark, but this captures where we're at with the weathering much better. I'll show them off together and spoiler the rest for cause there's quite a few massive pics.

Just some detail work to do now - pipes and lenses and so on. Though I've also got half a jar of Vallejo Thick Mud that I'm tempted to use to crust up the bottom sections and cake around the greebling...we'll probably see how we're going for time at the back end of the month.





Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

The demonic horrors look so bloomin good in that latest group shot! Truly scary, makes me think of a line in Lovecraft where someone was lost to 'an impossible angle of geometry'.

Thanks Ragsta! Glad you like them. It's always fun to get a few of them together for a group pic.

Terrain's all done - still undecided if I want to give it some mud.
















Have also finished off the Ascended Sleeper and the second-last farseer for my Seer Council. Just have the Sotha Sil lookalike to go.

Gonna take a moment and congratulate myself for being so productive lately! Hoping to continue that moving forward.







Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

Yay! More weird alien beings to terrorize the battlefield.

I love the terrain scratchbuilding there. Half the battle is finding a suitable shape that isn't quite identifiable. The use of bits is excellent.

Thanks blockade! I'm happy to hear the effect comes off because I honestly was just trying to create a general steampunky vibe in broad strokes and wasn't trying to hard with these ones to create anything that held up to particular scrutiny.

Got my last seer finished, and with him the seer council - so took some group pics. The white cloth nearly killed me - eventually gave up trying to fix it. Parts of the robes look nicer than others and that's life!





Gang's all here.



Farseers/cephalopod helmet crew



Warlocks - posted these already but felt weird to leave them out



Extras - spiritseer/Eldrad/back-up whatever



Where to next? More Exodites, probably - I've primed all the models I've built now to slowly work my way through them. Maybe some leaders, maybe some CHAFF for the next monthly painting contest.

Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

These are amazing. Like the cuthulu one

Excellent progress mate. Those seers look amazing, especially the glowing green bits. I thought one of them was actually LEDs!
The packing crate building turned out great as well, lots of cool details added.
As for the geo-daemons, I’ll skip over them as I don’t want nightmares :’(

What brilliant pictures! The Seers look really nice all grouped up like that, some truly alien visages in there and the painting is so much fun!

Terrain piece is a total win- it looks fine as is but adding mud wouldn't harm it. Ultimately up to you

I salute your productivity! Trying to grind through 60 (!!!) Flexberg Guardsmen here...

Thanks fellas!

Good luck Ragsta - after my own guard army, my batch painting days seem to be thankfully over.

Good news for terrain lovers, I've made some more.







It matches pretty well with the old stuff.



I also got some work on some basic troopers - a mix of Guardians and Dire Avengers, as part of the September painting challenge themed around "Chaff". The closest thing to batch painting I've done in a while, though they were mostly done 2 at a time across various stages of the painting process. I'm not sure that I'm sold on the green gun tubes - I might go back and repaint them tan/brown or something.






This month the painting contest is Halloween themed, so I'm going to try and get my Dark Reapers done.



Slow and steady progress here. Thanks for looking and happy painting everyone 8-)

tzurk,

Nice terrain and a totally unique army.

Cheers,

CB

Looking great. Working with older models can be a challenge with all the knowledge we've accumulated today that doesn't always quite match the not as crisp lines and flow of some of the older sculpts.

Good work tzurk. I for one like the green tubing, adds a nice pop of colour. The blue on the 4th one gets a bit lost imho. So I guess it depends what you’re after; subtle or garish

I am glad I found this.
Man your scratch builds are inspirational!
Such a cool idea well executed. Your color schemes for projects are spot on, you have the eye for it for sure.