Tarkonis IV - Planetary Survey

Segmentum: Ultima
Sector: Dartus
Sub-sector: Ulch
System: Tarkonis: 7 planets (I through VII)

Surveyed: Unknown; the system was brought into compliance near the end of the Great Crusade, circa M31.

Satellites: 0 save for Tarkonis II (1) and V (4; 2 populated)

Tarkonis

Summary: Mining/agricultural world and home to the Blood Stalkers Space Marine Chapter; the planet exhibits no tilt of its axis in relation to the local star which in turn causes the equatorial region to exhibit arid desert climate while the polar regions, devoid of ice, host flourishing agricultural expanses.

Population: 4.5 billion (human and abhuman)
Mean Surface Temperature: 27 degrees Celsius
Seas: 62% of the surface is covered by shallow seas. The extreme heat at the equator results in heavy evaporation which in turn precipitates in increasing amounts with distance from the equator.

Principle Exports: Foodstuffs and ore mined primarily from neighbouring moons;
Principle Imports: Munitions; Arms and weapons.
Food Supply: Food is grown on-world with excess exported off-world as part of Imperial Tithe.
Urbanisation: Vast cities exist centralized around the space ports used to transport workers to the ore rich moons of neighbouring planets. The vast expanses of agricultural land are sparsely populated.

Military Presence: Tarkonis IV serves as the home world of the Blood Stalkers Space Marine Chapter. Novitiates are chosen from the system's populace during ceremonial events which take place once every 5 years. Hopefuls are given a combat blade and water prior to beginning a trek through the equatorial barrens. Having survived dehydration, sand wurms and extreme heat, survivors are often given the chance to undergo the process to become Space Marines. This event had historically been held once every ten years; however due to the gene 'flaw' of the Blood Stalkers, this event has become more frequent. An Imperial Guard Regiment is stationed on Tarkonis IV which is drawn upon to serve in nearby conflicts. The Adeptus Mechanicus Warhound Titan Dais Mortae is also stationed within the system.

Imperial Forces on Parade 989.M41

3rd Company Colonel and command squad (counts-as Straken)


3rd Company 2nd Platoon Command Squad


Commissar Orlav attached to 2nd Platoon


3rd Company 1st Veteran Squad


3rd Company 2nd Veteran Squad


3rd Company 3nd Veteran Squad


4th Auxiliary Ogryn Detachment


42nd Heavy Weapons Detatchment


<Classified> Psyker Battle Squad attached to 6rd Company

Chimera assigned to <Classified> Psyker Battle Squad


19th Recon Squadron - Sentinel 5

Nice work on the chimera. I kinda wish I had seen this mod before doing my own ones

Regarding the sentinels though, AT-STs have many more weapons than sentinels are allowed. How will you deal with that?

I decided to go nuts and bought an IG army online. My order hasn't yet been shipped but I'm not giving up hope! I've purchased from this vendor previously and they seem legit, I'm assuming it is just issues with out of stock manticores.

My current list idea is pretty dirty; avoiding that however, here are a few of my ideas:

-All squads in chimeras which I plan to convert to 'set-back' following a tutorial I've found. The chimeras will also have removable turret weapons so I can convert hellhound weapons for them to change in as desired.

-Veteran squads will be armed with special weapons and converted shotguns (from bolt guns).

-Sentinels to follow AT-ST design based on paulson games' models.

The overall colour scheme I would like to loosely follow is as such:

I'm hoping some cool manticore conversion idea pops up before I start assembling them. I also need to find some inexpensive track guards as they seem not to be on the sprues anymore.

I picked up a chimera in the mean time and I also took my necromunda 'Enforcers' Gang and replaced their weapons to fill a veteran squad position.

Here's my chimera after a lot of cutting:


The multilaser is removable and I'm going to come up with some way to fashion hellhounds out of them. I guess the photo is a poor angle of the back; I placed a single track guard on the rear diagonal and attached handles as a step ladder to the top. I would have liked complete track guards but they're no longer in the chimera kits and I don't plan to spend 30% of the tanks value on forgeworld track covers.

I think I'm settled on Graveyard Earth for the tanks and Khemri fatigues and Charadon Granite Flak armour. Devlan washes and Denab dry brushing to brighten them. I did a quick test paint on the bottom and I definately will be having a friend spray gun them as these light browns have really poor coverage.

Flinty wrote:Nice work on the chimera. I kinda wish I had seen this mod before doing my own ones

Regarding the sentinels though, AT-STs have many more weapons than sentinels are allowed. How will you deal with that?

Not play WYSIWYG Actually, I'll probably undersling some heavy bolters or something for the look, and leave the sides bare. I'll just claim the weapons are whatever I'd like at the time. My gaming group is forgiving of WYSIWYG weaponry so long as the parent model is correct and I don't play tournements; if I did, I doubt sentinels would be in the list haha.

I've never had the opportunity to post such a picture; so here is what arrived in the mail this week.



Hopefully I'm not too distracted by the plastic crack above.

I've finished up a Veteran Squad or at least 9 members of the squad. I'm really unsure of where the 10th guy ran off to. . . Maybe I need a commisar to stand guard in my closet.

So this is the colour scheme I decided on; the fatigues are khemri brown and the armour plating is charadon granite. The entire model is dry brushed with denab stone and devlan mud washed. The armour is then washed with badab black. I'm pretty happy with them; although as always, my basing is poor but I do plan to add some dead grass to the bases next time I'm out and see what colours are in the store.



I have also put my valkyrie and a manticore together just to try out the new kits which were quite fun.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INFINTRY? HOW MUCH DID THAT COST?

JDM wrote:DO YOU HAVE ANY INFINTRY? HOW MUCH DID THAT COST?

It was 230 British pounds. Quite a good deal actually through an online vendor. And yes, there are infantry in the photo! The battleforce contains 20 men and a command squad. In addition there is a box of 10 men on the top of the pile. Joined with the 10 guardsman painted above that I already owned, I have 40 troops and a command squad which is more than enough to run 4 veteran squads with heavy weapons (also included in the battleforce).

If you thin out your heavy weapon teams you can actually turn the 3 into six provided you have extra 60 mm bases. You just ditch the spotter and throw a guardsman on during gameplay which is removable to mark wounds.

I tried to add some minor battle damage/chips to the vets as you can see in the bottom of the below picture. I tried using a sponge and highlights but I don't feel I can paint well enough for that sort of damage, and I ended up painting over it. It was somewhat subtle but I think it looked really bad up close. I think part of the issue may be the dark colour of the armour. I've seen a lot of really nice battle damaged pieces with that style of chip but it is always lighter armour which I think lends itself better to that technique.

This was my weekend; 2 sets of tracks per tank, 12 pieces per set, 6 tanks; that is a lot of pieces to clean flashing off of!

I couldn't resist making the turret for the Command Chimera so I put that together before the greenstuff was dry. I still have to file all of that down and add the viewports and add rivets and doors, but you get the idea.

Since it was a slow day, I figured now was as good a time as any to throw up some more ideas.

I was looking through my bits box after making a trade yesterday and noticed I had a space whirlwind turret that I havn't been using. I figured it would be a great way to add a potential third Manticore to my army should the need arise.

If you look at the image you can see the whirlwind turret (of course I'm not the first to think of that I'm sure) but it is swappable onto my converted chimeras which is always a plus. You can also see the weapon swap out options available so far. I'm made a multilaser of course and the currently equipped is my counts-as hellhound turret. I doubt I will get any arguements over the hellhound since they share a hull anyway; the prometheum is simply hidden safely inside the shell!

On a general hobby note; I tried out something different than magnets. You'll notice the multilaser has a small tube extending from the rear; this fits into a larger tube on the turret. I was running out of magnets so this seems to work just fine and no chance of messing up the polarity across models!

You and i are alike
buy many guard tanks convert each one of them so that they all look awesome
i was planning to buy 5 more deathstrikes 2 more baneblades and 9 more russes .

So many tanks! I like the look of your conversions, they should look mint when they're all finished!

I bought some grass and had my first attemp with fake grass on bases. I like how they turned out and have decided to seal them now. If you can see close enough, I have added battle scrapes and a bit more highlight. Not too over done though. I mean realistically too many battles and a guardsman won't come home if you know what I mean



I really hope I don't mess up the grass with the sealant. Do people typically do that before or after?

If I were you I'd do the sealant before the grass.

Random grass alternative: dried "old mans beard" lichen. Let it dry out until it has faded yellow. Left intact it makes convincing bushes. Pulled apart, the individual stems look like alien vines.

That Whirlwind based manticore is awesome. I'm extremely tempted to try that out

It would also let my try out that type of chimera mod which I have been fond of for a while. Lots of good work here, thanks for sharing

I love the vets heavy stubber. 'is genius!

awesome work, i whole heartedly approve

Good use of the CHimera, nice conversions.

Looking Great!

For the Vet Sgt. What did you use for his armour? I cant tell if its a SM shoulder pad or just some GS

Regardless consider the idea stolen

It's a Kroot Pad of some kind.

Very nice. Chimeras looking good, and I'll confess now, I'm using that kroot armour idea somewhere

Yeah the heavy stubber is my favourite too. It was originally a necromunda conversion for an arbites model I was making.

Ghost in the Darkness wrote:It's a Kroot Pad of some kind.

Yup, there's a few of them on the kroot sprue and it seems to fit great if you GS a collar around the back of the guardsman neck.

Steal away, I borrowed the idea from Shas'El Tael from ATT; although not sure if it was his originally.

Thanks for the comments! I'm still plugging away.

nice thread you've got. Big up.

While sitting at home and robbing ideas from the internet, I came across a great idea and then made it my own. Thank you to the handfull of blogs that showed up on google with similar conversions that were directly responsible for this.



I am still painting; glueing is just far more fun! Next paint batch includes 4 heavy weapons teams.

I think I might steal the Idea for my Chimeras looks really good and I love the Hydra

Really superb conversions there. I do really like the turrets further back on the Chimera's, it does look really cool.

Found a lot of time over the weekend to get to work on more guardsman; well not rank and file soldiers, but infantry miniatures none the less.



If you can look closely at the 'ablative wound' gentleman standing beside each big gun, you'll notice I tried to mod each lasgun into an AK-47-esque weapon. A bolter clip & an inverted tank lasgun barrel is all you need
This guy is also not on the base and has his own 25mm. I've seen people do this before and it seems like an amazingly simple way to track wounds on the team and also allows you to use the 2nd guy on his own if you are ever short guardsman.

they look amazing.

Really nice work. I like pretty much everything in this army. If I may ask what rules are you using for that converted heavy stubber in your veteran squad? Keep up good work!

autocannons are very good in game. you did a great job on them.

Thanks for the compliments!

Xenon wrote:Really nice work. I like pretty much everything in this army. If I may ask what rules are you using for that converted heavy stubber in your veteran squad? Keep up good work!

I had him done up prior to the codex to use in Necromunda. Now I think he will sub in as a more cadian-esque version of Sergeant Hakkar. A shoulder-slung heavy stubber should be fine to use as a heavy bolter in my group.

Is that convincing enough?


Scrazza : Yeah I've heard they're pretty good. A 10 point upgrade that can take out a transport is pretty fancy especially since it can shoot out of the back of a chimera.

I've updated my first post of the thread with my Space Marine Chapter. I have more to add to it, namely assault marines that are sitting unpainted but right now I'm more into these guardsman. You can REALLY see how I've improved my painting skills though; at least I think so.

Awesome! I want chapter lore!

I bought some Ogre Kingdom Bulls online for a really good price and made an attempt at converting something suitable for an ogryn. Now I'm not a green stuff master so I couldn't attempt shirts and such like I'd seen on a few cool models before, but I tried to give them enough of a look so that they would appear to just be near mutant humans fighting along with the army. The only thing I'm not happy with is the large stomach armour plating but I think I will get over it once it is painted up to match the rest of the troops.





As an aside, I picked up a Realm of Battle Gameboard for $90 so that is in my garage with a base coat on it. I used that as a first attempt with Krylon Ultra Flat Black Camo spraypaint and it works GREAT. For a cheap can of walmart paint it coats well and didn't snow up. I also purchased their tan shade from the same line and primed half of my IG tanks to help with the basecoat. I'd been using Armoury spray before, but Krylon is so widely sold it is a much better product to recommend and come by.

So tomorrow morning when the GS sets, I think I'll prime these and get to work. I'm eager to have them painted up. I have a Vet squad in the garage that I just matte sprayed so I'll get some images when that is done as well.

Those are some really nice ogryns! The one with the mohawk is cool!

Looking good, tho I really think the ogryns could use more converting, do just have a feel of OK ogres with bits stuck on.

awesome looking ogryns. big up.

Love the mostly helmatded space marinne look.

Wow really nice ogyrn conversoins mate! Can't wait for the AT-STs Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the compliments! I must say, these were some of the most fun to paint models I've done in a while; as should be evident by the quick turn around time on them.

I realize they're probably HORRID in game as I can't think of much that wouldn't shrug off a charge from these guys (300 and some odd points for 6 and a chimera) but they'll be interesting and I'm sure will find a niche in friendly games.

They don't look too out of place and I'm quite happy with how they turned out. The bone 'ead's pointer finger was greenstuffed and it looks nice and wrinkly and fits. I also tried my hand at using a sharpy to give them some Imperial Aquila tatoos on their shoulders. Regardless of artistic ability, I must suggest this to anyone wanting to do some freehand. It is MUCH easier than using a brush.


4th Auxiliary Ogryn Detachment

I also took some photos of the last batch of guardsman vets. This time I added a few darker skinned members to add variety. I think I'll try to keep a good mix of flesh tones throughout the army to make it appear a bit more natural.


3rd Company 3nd Veteran Squad

Comments welcome.

Love the leaf on the shields.

At the moment I have 19 guardsman sitting on my shelf half painted and I took a break. There's a commisar, a cool Colonel Straken conversion I made, a platoon command squad with 4x flamers and another squad of veteran mish mash.

So what was the break for? Well it's September and about to snow in Alberta so the temperature is low and I decided it was high time to finish magnetizing my vehicles and get a primer on them so I wouldn't run into poor weather. I used to prime in my condo's stairwell but being in a house now means I don't really want to stink it up.

Resulting from that was a sentinel I couldn't resist from painting. All of my other tanks are planned to be painted with graveyard earth but I figured the sentinels should stand out a bit so I painted them with the armour colour of the infantry. I tried out sponge weathering for chips and this poor indoor photo doesn't show it off well but I like the look. I'm probably going to stick with it in the future.

I'll probably seal it over the next few days and then take a better picture outside with better lighting.

Thoughts and comments are welcome.

Awesome ogryns!

I took a shot outside. It doesn't really show any of the hues on the model but that's ok. It's likely the low ambient light outside where I took the picture.


I also painted up 5 generic objectives from spare bits. Nothing fancy but better than poker chips and coins.

So I've been quite busy. I uploaded a new picture of the sentinel and this time with the las cannon. Maybe it looks more fitting? Maybe not!

I was looking through the Codex and stumbled across Colonel Straken and thought that would be a really sweet model. So I set off to make a Cadian-esque version that would fit into my army. I ended up cutting up a necron head to make a ballistic mask and building around a valkyrie gunner's body which is a bit more armoured and would make the 3+ save more believable. He's also quite a strong fellow so I took the bionic arm and bulked up the triceps on it. As much as I like the pseudo shotguns I made from bolters I didn't want to give him one so I made a custom lasgun to count as a shot gun. He's been given a melta bomb which although not equiped in his profile, I think it lends some creedence to why hit hits like a monstrous creature on vehicles.

Anyway, here he is ready to turn up the heat!

love that last model! its sick!!

Like the use of the necron mask

The necron head is awesome!! I have always wanted to have a squad that looked like the guys from the video game "Army Of Two"!! Keep up the great work!!

Mike

Just like the armour around the neck consiter the ballistic mask stolen as well

I guess I owe you for giving me all kinds of ideas for my guardsmen

Thats really impressive stuff here thanks for sharing!

Cheers

Feel free to borrow any ideas!

Update:

I traded for this commisar for something very inexpensive or else I would have attempted to convert one. I wasn't a big fan of the all black outfit as it didn't seem very regimented to me. I painted him up in the fatigues of the line soldiers. I think all of the extra adornments speak for themselves as to his statures. The bolter aimed at your face when you're given an order also helps to alleviate any misunderstandings that may occur from his uniform not being all black.

He is going to end up joining an infantry platoon at some point although I've yet to begin assembling them (the 30-40 guardsman prospect is not motivating). I attempted to paint a glow effect but it doesn't come across at all on the resized image (not that it is good anyway).



I believe this is the 3rd veteran squad (sans heavy weapons).

looking good still!

Very nice! The Commander Strakken mini conversion is stunning.

Anyway, here's my Platoon Command Squad that I will try out as soon as I get some fodder, I mean Guardsman, to run with them. I've been paying extra care to try and put eyes on every guardsman in this army. It's quite a pain in the butt but definately adds a lot of depth. One problem I do have though is I think my average time spent per model has risen quite considerably, probably 1-2 hours or so now although I paint in bulk. A squad of 10 likely takes 15 hours or so. Not that my painting is the best in the world by a long shot but it definately disuades me from beginning new squads at before any paint hits them.

It's hard to tell, but I put hazard strips on the flanges holding the compressed gas and prometheum tanks to their backs. It got a bit washed out with the various washes but maybe a subdued effect is better?



I really need to get on painting the vehicles but I think my next batch will be the psychic battle squad which I'm quite excited to convert.

These are looking very nice. The Straken conversion is an excellent idea. hat did you use as the basis for the Hydra Turret? Is it part of the Manticore kit?

Really awesome models, a lot of good inspiration, at least I'll see about working some of it into my guards

Llamahead It is the defence gun from the aegis defence line.



My Empire Flagellants came in and I set to work in making stand-ins for a Psyker Battle Squad.

Nothing too major but once painted up to match my troops It should fit. I'm not completely sold on some of the more 'rustic' CCWs though.

I do like how they look like a worn out bunch of crazy mad men. The overseer is made to resemble a less 'awe inspiring' soldier than the commissar above and will be painted to match (there's a high elf cloak behind him).

Thoughts are welcome and I can still make minor changes.

I finished painting up my Psyker battle squad this morning, based them and then took some photos. It is very windy outside today so I had to take the pictures indoors which is beyond my ability to get a clear photo (my other photographs utilize the great tip of taking pictures when it is overcast). So needless to say these are not as 'crisp' as I would like.

I painted barcoads on their heads thanks to a suggestion - it sure makes tracking a bunch of lunatics easier than trying to tell one Napoleon from the next. I painted the 'overseer' to match my commissar so that I could use him as a standin should that need ever arise. The chanting chorus of psychic energy gets channelled through the glowing green icon prior to blasting enemies. The oversee stands ready to shoot any tentacles that begin growing.

TheAmbit wrote:I finished painting up my Psyker battle squad this morning, based them and then took some photos. It is very windy outside today so I had to take the pictures indoors which is beyond my ability to get a clear photo (my other photographs utilize the great tip of taking pictures when it is overcast). So needless to say these are not as 'crisp' as I would like.

I painted barcoads on their heads thanks to a suggestion - it sure makes tracking a bunch of lunatics easier than trying to tell one Napoleon from the next. I painted the 'overseer' to match my commissar so that I could use him as a standin should that need ever arise. The chanting chorus of psychic energy gets channelled through the glowing green icon prior to blasting enemies. The oversee stands ready to shoot any tentacles that begin growing.

Wow! These look great. I am jealous of your kit bash/ conversion for this group. The GW models or should I say model ( I mean for such a cool squad come on ) is so lame. You def have me itching to make my own. Well done sir, well done Also the bar code idea deserves a huge kudos and very well executed to I might add!

Mike

I FINALLY took some initiative and started to finish my Realm of Battle Gameboard. When I purchased this 2nd hand it was completely unstarted but also came with the terrain pack from GW for setting it up. First complaint - there is in no way enough white glue to finish flocking the board but I guess I didn't pay for it and walmart sells cheap glue.

The whole board is painted brown then drybrushed with the ochre in the kit. I took the remnants of a chaos black paint can and filled it with water. This made a VERY cheap black wash that while not working on miniatures is great for terrain. This was added to the ponds and cliffs for depth. I intend to add water effects to the skull ponds which will be a first time use of that material for me; hope that goes well.

I've added some extra gravel bits on and around but I need to add a bit more I think for crumbled rock etc. I've currently got 2 sections complete but am out of glue. I will definately update as it is completed.

the board looks nice.

like the colour scheme of your army, i might get hold of them colours khemri and the other one! are they foundation paints?
and that SM on a horse ...lol that is funny, it must have a strong back!

Can't believe I have not seen this before! Great work on everything, like the maple leaf on the marines BTW

neil101 wrote:like the colour scheme of your army, i might get hold of them colours khemri and the other one! are they foundation paints?
and that SM on a horse ...lol that is funny, it must have a strong back!

Well it's clearly bionic! Both of the colours are foundation paints. Kemri and the Granite.

I bought some "Realistic Water" from Woodland Scenics. I'm hoping this works out. I looked around for some Valejo stuff but couldn't find it and didn't want to order online (I'm impatient now that I'm almost done!).

Here's two more pieces of board done. This is how I painted up the exposed rock bits. In my mind they look like foundations of buildings that are being reclaimed by the land. It will look nifty when GW ruined buildings are placed around them.




I ran out of grass so the last boards will have to wait until I buy more flock from GW.

Well the water effects is drying in the skull ponds as we speak. Man that stuff is a pain to work with.

In the mean-time I've had the urge to build something out of plasticard (I may have also ordered a couple of nifty things for a secret project to work on over Christmas). Anyway the Macharius is a crazy cool looking tank in my opinion and although the use of it will be infrequent, I just had to try to build one.




I'm also a little dizzy from all of the plastic glue. I picked up some Tamiya plastic cement and it is quite volatile.

Anyway pick of one side of the tank for scale and without rivets.

Edit:
I finished one side of tracks. I still have to add a sponson and add some putty to the half round 'thing' on the front-side of IG tanks to round it off.





Next up is the other side and I am going to try out 'bondo' to crack fill the sponson. I will just have to be careful with the vapour and sanding dust.

Now that is impressive. Wow.

That's... wow! Words fail me. Are you using a template for the Macharius, or are you making it up yourself? Either way it's damn impressive!

I'm trying to start making some tanks myself, but keep failing to get anything done on them.

nice scratch building skills, looking really good. cant wait to see how you get the hull sorted

thats looking really good!

Awesome skills mate! It's looking really good, can't wait till it's all done. Is this built on a template?

Sweet work with the ballistic mask! What did you use for the gorget on the armor?

Not to be behind on this but I love that you used a Kroot shoulder pad for the neck armour on one of your Sergeants.

The gorgets are all made with Kroot shoulder pads. I made every sergeant in the army have one. It really helps to make them stand out from the rank and file.

The ballistic mask is a shaved down necron head glued to a cadian head (also shaved down).

The macharius is from a template from an Eli Patrioch (I think that is the correct spelling). He has a lot of helpful templates.

After inhaling too much glue (they do say well ventilated for a reason) my head hurts and my nose burns. The big problem is that the sides needed too much glue to attach well to the main hull. I've started glueing under the rangehood on the stove so that should help a bit.

So all warnings aside here is the current progress:




You can see that I've completed both track sides (technical term anyone?) and attached them to the main hull. I am holding off on the main detailing of the hull until I crack fill all of those glaring holes at a later date. Right now I was just trying to crack out the polygons. They seem to take the most time actually and I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the small details instead of the big shapes; those are somehow actually more tedious. Next up will be finishing off the rear end of the hull with the overhanging turret mount that hangs over the rear tracks.

I also have to do some surgery to scavenge track bits from further back on the tank. I had thought they would be covered by the hull more near the front but now they're just out in the open and I will have to swap them for some of the ones that will be covered later.

Spent some more time on this (a few hours a day) and finally felt an update was in order. I tried out bondo on the cracks. I won't be doing that again. It actually works really well and fast but it's -10C outside here and I'm terrified of using it indoors after reading the warning label. Any spots on the model that require a second lift will be done in GS once my order arrives.

I have yet to fill in the hull mounted gaps around the heavy stubbers but I did adjust the armour plating. Once I get some GS I will finish off the driver's hull area and the stubber.

The engine mount is currently drying before I attach it but the rest of the hull should be fairly near complete. Just a few odds and ends to put on it.

I've finished the hull of the Macharius and willl begin on the turret shortly. I'm going to try to get it all done before my next project arrives in the mail.

Maybe over Christmas I should finish the 20 man IG squad staring at me. . . The inlaws seem so judging of my toys though. . .

Anyway pictures!

The whole hull:


Finished stubber hull mount and drivers area:


Rear view:


Engine compartment hunderside:


I took some creative liberties with the engine so that I could use a couple of bits I had lying around. There's only one main exhaust stack but I think it looks quite fitting and not orky at all for an ork weapon.

No that looks completely fine. Given a proper paintjob, I am sure you will get away with it. What are those two little pieces of grey plastic on top of the engine cover meant to represent?

I would suggest using the Dakka gallery rather than photobucket or Imageshack,a s alot of workplaces filter. I cant see you pics.

THe smoke stack looks good. As does the engine housing. That turret looks awesome, and those treads look great. How long did they take? THe whole thing is pretty awesome, frankly. But why aren't there any rivets on the underside? ;P

Amazing build! Those are the best scratch built tank tracks/tread I have ever seen. Where did you get your materials?

AG09 The grey bits are air intake ports or or something I suppose

wolfshadow I post my stuff on a couple of other forums and I am unfamiliar with Dakka's hosting and if they allow linking from outside sources.

The Good Green The treads were the quickest and easiest part. The real model didn't appear to have much in the way of rivets on the underside so I did not put them on.

Depraved The tracks are evergreen styrene (as is all of it). It is stocked by a local train store here but you can order it online if you google 'Evergreen Styrene'. I used 'C channels' I believe (part 267) and some tubing and rivet pieces I cut out with a leather punch. Hope that helps.

Thats some big Ass rivits!!

Looking good!

Thanks, I ordered some similar materials from hobbylinc.com. I cant wait to see this thing done, looking great.

I took an evening to paint for the first time in a month or two I think - after playing 2 games this week.

I must say that the psyker battle squad is so awesome of a unit and idea. A unit that can truely alter the leadership of enemy units effectively and at range. Maybe something like that exists but I have yet to see it from another codex. I've used this unit in the last handful of games I've played and I have yet to be disapointed. They do not so much make back their points but they save my other units from so many charges and shots. I realize they can shoot a blast but I always save the squad until last to fire and their moral ability is just so much more effective than a few kills. Again, I love this unit for the tactical variation it introduces to 40k.

Anyway I thought I should finally give them a nice ride.


Chimera assigned to <Classified> Psyker Battle Squad

The rest of the vehicles in the army will still end up beige but the psyker's chimera should stand out especially with the innate fear of psychic abilities in the Imperium.

I tried out some blending on the windows. For a first attempt I think it worked and I will definately be trying it out on lenses in the future.

Wow, great paint job! The windows look good, especially for a first attempt. The forward facing one on the infantry compartment, just under the turret on the left hand side, is a nice touch.

How are things coming with the Macharius?

one of the best modeled an painted imperial guard armies I've seen

AG09 It's coming. I took a painting break and an attempt to strip some devastators break. The turret is modelled now. I just have to get some greenstuff on it before detailing. I also primed the base which really ties it all together.

Vulkan_He'stan Wow that is quite the compliment. I don't think I'm anywhere near the best painter or the best modeller but I do try my best to do justice to the models before they hit the table. Thanks again.

TheAmbit wrote:AG09 It's coming. I took a painting break and an attempt to strip some devastators break. The turret is modelled now. I just have to get some greenstuff on it before detailing. I also primed the base which really ties it all together.

Awesome news. Any WIP pix of it atm? Kinda keen to see the underlying shape and proportions is all.

As requested, here is the updated turret.

looking great!

Looking great, Im watching this one till the finish....

The Macharius looks mighty awesome. I give you the ol' !

Looking good, you've definitely captured the proportions and shape of the turret perfectly. I really like the design feature of the Macharius that has that cylinder for the commander to stand in on the side of the turret, super cool.

I query your gun barrels, however, for size. In terms of length it would seem you are going for a Macharius Vanquisher, am I right? The best thing about a Vanquisher, LRBT or otherwise, is the gun seems to have almost-believable proportions (although still generally of a ridiculous calibre haha). But these barrels are about the size of a normal battle cannon, except without the graduated barrel on the FW Macharius, and obviously much longer. Which are you going for? Normal battle cannons or Vanquishers? IMO Vanquishers need to be thinner, is all, otherwise it looks like both barrels would rip the turret of the tank, such is the weight of metal being thrown forward.

The other thing is tracks. Yours are cool (and no doubt laborious to make) but it seems to me that if they ran, they would just grind against the metal of the sides. There's no rail or anything to separate the hull from the tracks. See what I mean in this random gallery pic? (Check out the cannons too!)

While the tracks are still sitting on the hull, it's clear to see where the hull stops and the tracks start. Yours will be, too, I guess, once painted so this is probably irrelevant. I guess all being primed the same colour could be distracting me.

Keep up the good work!

Is somebody feeling inadequate about his barrel size? I say go big. Tracks look great, get this tank to the front ASAP!

Happy New Year and a late Merry Christmas to everyone.

I was busy during my two week holidays but managed to bring 20 guardsman and 10 assault marines from my Blood Angels along with me and worked on them a bit each day. It was really good to finish both of these up as the guardsmen were boring and the assault marines have been neglected for about six months. I really needed to get these out of the way so I could commit myself fully to the Space Wolf Madness that would arrive in my mail box after the holidays and shortly after.

First up we have the two 5 man assault squads that I tote around in razorbacks and rhinos. These were put together using a death company box set and a regular marine troop kit. It allowed for more models with blood angel iconography and didn't go over the top with it (looks good on death company but not on the run of the mill dudes in my opinion).

I also painted these guys to a better standard (I hope) than I was capable of when I painted my original marines. Because of this and the lack of use of most of the red infantry I had - I have sold of a large portion of them and reinvested it into the Space Wolves.


Assault Squad 1


Assault Squad 2


Details on the marines include a new technique I'm trying out for parchments and scrolls. I drop a dab of water from my brush onto my table, then pick up a small bit of chaos black and then run it through the water dab so that it is quite watery (you would need to practice this). With the VERY watered down black paint I scrible across the surface to give wavy lines that just barely transfer paint. You can see the effect above. I also tried out a lot of glow effect (blurry in the plasma shot - sorry) and a good shot of the new lense technique I am trying on the Marine eyes.

I have to appologize for the colour balance on these pictures - it gets dark here around 4 pm at the moment so the indoor shots and my camera don't work well together.

Oh comparison to old style painting:


On to the guardsmen. I should have about 30 now once I toss in some heavy weapons and will try out a 30 man blob squad with a commisar and Colonel Straken tomorrow. Should be interesting!



The sword effect was used on the space marines as well as the sergeant in the IG squad. I know power weapons should be blue but the green just looks so much better and stands out. Painting the eyes on 20 of these guys hurt my eyes...


The macharius turret is about 30% done and wasn't completed in time for the holidays sadly and will probably back burner to my space wolves - but don't fear I will get it done.

How did you make the armor plates on those front guardsmen. I love the models, great work!

they look like kroot sholder pads
nice idea btw

Hey man, these look absolutely amazing, i was going to do khemri and granite for my guardsman, but i plan on doing khemri armour, granite flak pads. These look amazing, can you give a quick tut on how you made the straken mask?

I was debating starting a new thread but I think I'll just post here as it's my next Imperial army. I've posted this on Warseer but I thought I'd share here as well.

Introduction
To prove that I can and do bandwagon hop onto every Imperial army that GW puts out, I've decided to start a Space Wolf army! This has been quite the trend I've noticed in my current hobby ventures. Although I wasn't doing it to powergame (I play with friends typically and aim to win only slightly more than I lose and adjust my lists to suit that goal).

The Plan
Well! I'm going to buy more drop pods and terminators! I tried using simple green to strip my devestators and it didn't work super well. It worked, but maybe I'm expecting the sort of stripping that I've achieved on metal models. I also was not sure which type of simple green to use. Our local hardware store stocks about seven different types and I couldn't get a straight answer so maybe I bought the wrong kind. Anyway I got most of the paint off after some elbow grease and about $10 in chemical and toothbrushes. Because of this test, I was not willing to strip the terminators and drop pods I have already. Also the conversions I have planned will be much easier from scratch anyway.

What are the Devestators becoming? Well yes, not much suspense here, a six man Longfang squad with missile launchers.

So to go back to my previous thought line - I already owned a bunch of the models but I don't want to strip them and I also feel that my painting has advanced beyond that on the space marine models I owned so I wanted to start over.

The Goal
I plan to do a small 'Showcase' army to display some sweet conversions and a theme which is unlike any army I've previously done since while I've always strived to convert heavily and bring something unique to the table, I haven't followed much of a theme. Our local GW store where I play once and a while has a point limit of 1250 so this seemed the perfect size to aim for.

The List:
Logan Grimnar
Rune Priest in terminator armour

4 man Wolf Guard in terminator armour with drop pod
5 man Wolf Guard in terminator armour with drop pod
5 man Wolf Guard in terminator armour with drop pod

6 man longfang pack with 5 missile launchers

Total: 1247

I will put each HQ unit in a drop pod with 4 terminator body guards (one of the five man squads will have a cyclone missile launcher that will detach to join the longfangs). I've decided to equip them to abuse them but I won't bother to list that out here.

I'm looking forward to 7 missile launcher shots raining overhead and covering the terminators. Things will either go extremely well or extremely poorly but it will be fun.

Modelling:

I will be converting the terminator helmets (of which everyone will wear because there are too many snipers about!) with the following tutorial:


And the shoulder pads will be purchased from MaxMini.eu:


I've also ordered two different body casts from Scibor which will be used to create my HQ units. They have a scale slightly larger than the standard terminator so they should look quite imposing and while I will model them with normal marine helmets, their shear bulk and stature in rank should give them an appearance deserving of their terminator armour value.


Painting:
Since they will be a 13th company-esque army they will be painted in the more dull-grey scheme of years past to fit their more ancient armour as so:


Long Fangs

I sponged some liberal damage onto the models and tried that out as well as dusting their legs which I will leave up to you to critique.


Oh and I tried to paint a boot tread! A little too dark now but next time I might try green stuff to make treads on the terminators feet if they need it instead of just paint.


Runepriest and Terminator Guard






After painting two of the terminators (the cyclone and the rune priest) I was amazed at how fast it went compared to my last couple batches of 20 guardsmen. This inspired me to keep going and we now have six in progress models.



The photo does not show much of the contrast on the fur sadly, or in the white of the icons. I will of course post better images when they are complete. I still have to paint the lightning claws, power swords and the rune axe. The eyes and lenses also need to be completed. I think I will continue with green power weapons as per my other recent works as I think they will pop a bit more against the grey than blue weapons would. The runic axe might be blue though or a blue white. Once all of that is done I'll sponge on some battle damage and the dirt as per the lone wolves

The rest of the army finally showed up in the mail which is great. I was sad to have to pay import duty (sales tax and a handling fee to be told I owed sales tax). I was suprised at this as I haven't had to pay it on the last 10 shipmets from the same supplier. Hit or miss I guess. After these 6 are done I will probably assemble the three drop pods since painting those will be a piece of cake and quick.

My Rune Priest and squad along with the Long Fang's Wolf Guard are now completed paint wise. I just need to get some replacement rocks to finish their bases. Photos will follow after I make a trip to the store and have a chance to fix them up. So probably 1-2 days.

Yesterday I finished assembling my 3 drop pods and ran out of primer. That will also need to be remedied.

Today, I put together some bases and started putting spacers on the remaining 10 Wolf Guard legs for the added height. After that I began work on Logan Grimnar.

I was suprised the shoulder pads fit under the wolf pelt with some trimming. I also added some spacers at the waist to give him some height (he's about 1 mm taller than my other terminators (which are 1 mm taller than stock). I magnetised his head as well so that I can take the helmet off and use a face should I ever wish to.



I'm pretty proud of what the Axe of Malaki turned into. Definately believable as a powerfist/frost axe as the rules allow. It's massive and as large as a marine judging by this picture.



I won't be putting a trophy or icon on his back so I'll have to greenstuff the spot in the fur where it is meant to go.

I can't wait to put paint to him!

I went out and bought new fine brown ballast (I think all the fine stuff was used up from my last batch and the long fangs look like their standing on gravel; well most of my other models do so this should fix that. Here are the photos of the first squad of Wolf Guard (independantly) and their cyclone missile launcher that will join the Long Fangs







The cyclone guy is my favourite by far. These are pretty zoomed in so it shows off some imperfections (they're really just drybrushed twice) but for all those people new to painting it is very easy to achieve a nice effect this way. I'm dabating another brighter level to the eyes (or a white dot) but I'm not sure yet. I don't want them to scream 'shoot me here'.

Finally put some finishing touches on my 3 drop pods. I think I am going to go back and touch up some of the boltgun drybrushed areas like the drop pod interior and the inner door. Maybe drybrush again with tin bits then chainmail to give it a two tones colour. I'm happy with the grey though I think.




Not sure what is next; either my IG valkyrie or I'll start up on the rest of the terminators. Probably the terminators! Then I could officially have the first army I've ever had "complete" with no unpainted or unassembled models. Even my previous 'finished' armies were just done to the point I was happy with despite having lots of models left. Not that it is a hueg achievement when there are less than 25 models in the army haha.

Very nice stuff, how did you make the 'collars' on your officers/straken stand in?

The collars look like kroot shoulder pads.

By the way, the drop pods look beautiful.

Holy ! The Wolves look amazing. Loving the little bits of battle damage. The pods are exceptional as well.

samwellfrm wrote:The collars look like kroot shoulder pads.

By the way, the drop pods look beautiful.

Yup; thanks for answering a question asked a half dozen times here already

Thanks for the compliments guys; hopefully sometime this month I have the remaining spacewolves painted up (10 terminators and logan). I'm going to do them as one batch so it may be slow to start but once I get going I should be driven to complete them pretty fast. I'm pretty excited now that they have rides.

Oh and as a treat since I haven't shown it:




I made my own Tyberos type chainfist and some wrist mounted combi weapons. Hope you like it.

That type of powerfist just screams BRUTAL! Love it!

I figured I'd throw up a 'deployed' shot of what I have painted so far. Typically the long fangs won't be in a pod but they were late for the photo shoot.

I thought I'd share what took me away from painting for a while. My creative juices were flowing and I have created what I will call the "Ambit Pattern Jetbike". I realize marines no longer have them but that concerns me little. Game terms will ee them used as normal bikes so it's no big deal. I may just have to create a command squad to ride them as well since I do like the look (but only have so many drop pod intakes and searchlights to use). This will also leave me with enough spare wheels to use for other ideas I have for my speeders.

Presenting the a Space Marine librarian on an "Ambit Pattern Jetbike"



The force staff is hacked off of a terminator librarian arm and I've attempted to GS the cables to blend it in. A conveniently places purity seal hides most of it! I also created the force hood from a SM shoulderpad as I did on my runepriest.

This will serve as my captain on bike (although I think I'm going to scrounge a stormshield from somewhere to strap to the rear):


Quick instructions:
1) The bike is assembled as a normal bike with the front wheel and fender removed as well as the rear wheel.
2) An old IG tank searchlight (I believe from the old russ sprues) which may exist on the current ones although I am uncertain, is assembled.
3) The lense is shaved off and a drop pod fan is attached. This fits nicely under the bike farring.
4) On the rear the openings are closed off with plasticard, a tube cut and a further drop pod vent attached.
5) Attached to a flying stand to a height you see fit.
6) Attach purity seal tassles (ok this isn't manditory but how cool is that?!)

There you have it!

I hope this proves helpful to someone.

Looking very nice.

Great work on the termies. Love the GK style helmets, and your combi weapons.

Headway!



I have a game coming up Saturday and I believe a friend may need an extra few hundred points so I was motivated to start finishing this model. It was so close to the end when I stopped I really shouldn't have. A few more touchups (hinges on the armour over the barrels) and some barrel vents at the muzzle and this bad boy will be pretty well done. I'm not super happy with the barrels but for all of the effort put into the tank, I can't seem to have better ideas. They'll probably look fine once the tank is painted anyway. I'm going to forgo the searchlight on the left side and just use that as an area for a decal I think.

The Night Hawks Chapter

Home World
The Chapter calls home to Korak Prime, a secluded system on the edge of the Maelstrom. The binary system of Korak is fraught with unpredictable, if short-lived, warp storms which periodically cut the region of space off from the rest of the Imperium. Korak Prime exhibits a unique orbit within the system and follows a figure-eight pattern around both stars. This unique orbit causes periods of harsh draught when the planet passes between the stars. The people of Korak Prime live simple lives with much time spent rationing their limited supplies as the arrival of inter-system supplies is less than regular. The annual dry period forces the populace to roam the surface in search of fresh surface water to bring back to their home villages.

This lifestyle has moulded the Night Hawks into the chapter as they are today. Following in the traditions of the White Scars, the Chapter focuses on rapid deployment and hit and run tactics. While the White Scars prefer to launch lightning fast strikes, the Night Hawks have perfected the art of hitting targets of opportunity before rapidly redeploying without the need to re-supply. A small contingent of Night Hawks cannot only change the tide of a battle but that of a war spanning an entire continent.

Beliefs
The people of Korak Prime are a spiritual people believing that the path of survival begins within oneself and practice an ancient form of numerology. Imperial anthropologists have traced the roots of these practices to the Gyptians of ancient Terra. The Night Hawks take portions of these beliefs with them through their transformation from tribesman to Space Marine. The number 9 has become sacred to the Chapter and shapes their organization. The ancient Gyptians believed that the planetary aspect of the number 9 was the moon; symbolic of the night. The Nine is the number of the unconscious and is seen as a regulator, resolving any discrepancies between the seven (experience) and the eight (instinct). Because of this, the Nine can be seen as the interface between the inner and outer self. Only by understanding the inner and outer self can one truly hold the corrupting taint of Chaos at bay.

Village elders routinely wear a simple tabard emblazoned with the heraldry of the village’s people. Upon recognition of veteran status, a Night Hawk dons a tabard bearing the Night Hawk crest.

The symbol of the Night Hawks is a winged talon wielding a sword. This symbolizes the Chapter’s doctrine of swiftly bringing might to bear.

Combat Doctrine
The Night Hawks are often tasked with undertaking prolonged missions behind enemy lines where abnormal weather systems or warp interference may prevent re-supply from orbit or even beyond system space. Preferring to operate at night, in contravention of the standard brightly armoured shock troop renowned across the Imperium, the Night Hawks prefer the subdued nature of their chapter colours. The fear induced on an unsuspecting enemy hit by a Night Hawks’ attack far surpasses that caused by a brightly coloured uniform.

Organization
At full strength, the Chapter is made up of 9 companies. The 1st company is comprised of ninety veterans of the Chapter who ride Mars-pattern hover bikes in contrast to the standard tactical dreadnaught armour worn by codex chapter’s first companies. Captains of the Chapter’s companies form their command squads from members of the 1st as opposed to members of their own companies. Veterans of the company can best prove their worth and learn first hand those skills which may someday be required if their station rises to that of captain. The 2nd through 6th companies are made up of bike and assault bike squadrons totalling 90 marines. These marines form 10 man groups dubbed ‘Murders’ reminiscent of the tactical squads of codex chapters. The 8th company, or the “Hand of Eden", consists of 50 versatile Argonaught Land Speeders and the 100 crew required to operate them. The 9th company consists of the initiates of the Chapter who sit at the crossroads of the journey to master their inner and outer selves.

Due to each marine being issued a Space Marine bike and the large component of Argonaughts which make up the 8th company, the Chapter has formed a strong bond with the Adepts of Mars. Over 30 techmarines are currently present within the Chapter and routinely accompany the Night Hawks to battle operating Argonaughts and performing field repairs during prolonged deployments.

Maintaining such a vast stock of equipment requires a vast portion of the chapters allotted wargear and as such tanks and drop pods are a rare commodity. Such ancient relics are held within the chapter armoury for all but the most dire of circumstances.

Gene-seed
Imperial records indicate that the Night Hawks Chapter was founded during the ninth founding early on in M33 from the White Scars’ gene-seed. The gene-seed appears stable if not more-so than that of the White Scars. Any apparent uncontrollable ferocity periodically displayed by the White Scars has not translated to the Night Hawks. Whether this is attributable to the meditations of the Marines or the stock in which their initiates are chosen is unknown.

Battlecry
“You are your own undoing!”

Armoury
The Night Hawks Chapter utilizes equipment not common to the Adeptus Astartes. Included among this list is the Mars-pattern hover bike. This STC was recovered from the 3rd moon of Korak Secundus late in M40. Following centuries of review by the Adepts of Mars, production on these bikes began and preliminary shipments were directed to the Night Hawks’ for use among the 1st company. The hover bike is not a true jet bike and is not capable of attaining heights of more than 1 metre above the ground's surface. What the hover bike does achieve is the ability to traverse uneven terrain with greater ease than a standard bike. The hover bike is also incapable of traversing bodies of water with a depth greater than 1 m as the gravimetric displacement field employed by the bike does not work with fluids.

The Argonaught-varient land speeder was created in M38.657 on the forge world of Aritek. The adept Primalus had a shortfall of the materials required to create the anti-grav plating which provides the land speeder with it’s low altitude flight abilities. The A ground-based land speeder variant was thereby created in an attempt to fulfill the battlefield role of a light assault vehicle. It was quickly realized that the lack of anti-grav plating and the systems required for it greatly increased the available cargo capacity of the vehicle. Though falling out of favour in the eyes of many of the Astartes, the Night Hawks found this new variant to compliment their combat doctrine almost perfectly. The drawback of being ground-based was of little concern as the Chapter utilized them as a long-range support vehicle capable of carrying their much needed supplies; the benefits far outweighing the costs. The reduction in materials required to construct the variant also weighed heavily in its favour as the Chapter already devoted much of its resources to bikes.

I like the idea for the landspeeder conversion to use the wheels, but I'm not too sure on the execution...the thing that worries me is how exactly is that vehicle going to turn? now if that was an ork vehicle i would completely understand. what I would do is have the wheels sit out just a little bit more, and have some plastic tubing holding them out so that you get the impression that those wheels could in fact turn.

Thanks for the advice. Maybe I should try that on the next ones. I was just a bit worried that it would either look bad or look not very marine-like since no other SM vehicles have open gears and pistons (ad-mech titans don't count)

Wow, everything in this thread is hella sexy. I'll definitely be watching this closely.

Your Terminator Wolf Guard make my mouth water. I'm so jealous!

kizzap wrote:I like the idea for the landspeeder conversion to use the wheels, but I'm not too sure on the execution...the thing that worries me is how exactly is that vehicle going to turn? now if that was an ork vehicle i would completely understand. what I would do is have the wheels sit out just a little bit more, and have some plastic tubing holding them out so that you get the impression that those wheels could in fact turn.

Oh I suppose to solve this issue I will address it by saying that it is rear wheel steering.

Just a nice bump for this great blog, those terminators are fantastic. It's nice to actually see that Scibor stuff in action.

Griever wrote:Just a nice bump for this great blog, those terminators are fantastic. It's nice to actually see that Scibor stuff in action.

Thanks man, I have tons of more stuff to share but no camera to take photos with right now.

As a teaser, I'm making 3 dreadnoughts including an ironclad model converted to have a head and all 3 given small leg extensions about the size of a shin guard. I'm also planning to do them with a bit of an egyptian theme (along with 5 chaos terminators done into thousand son obliterators. It should all mesh in a strange way I hope since I plan to use both in chaos and loyal armies. Also purchased a pair of daemon princes that are in the mail. Egyptian bits will come from maxmini including khobesh swords, new helmets and some shoulderpads for the termies that I will upsize slightly.

The Wolf Wing is done and I'll have photos of that completed to post. It will be worth the wait I promise.

Since I don't have a camera on me, I thought I'd share something that I don't believe I have ever shown here before. Scratch built thunderhawk - yes another one.







Definately a labour of love and I use it to fly around my Blood Angels in apocalypse. Ok that is a total lie. Mepheston uses it as a personal transport and doesn't let anyone else in.

Winning! Not bad for a Canuck

Those terminators make me feel all kinds of funny! Did you do the tutorial for the helms? I think I may have to seal i mean be inspired by it

Great work! Loving this thread.

I click on this thread to see a thundehawk, and I get some awesome guard, then awesome blood angels and then awesome space wolves ( which are my fav) then we get a landspeeder with wheels, and then a thunderhawk. Sir I throw my hat of to you, very impressive blog indeed. Mabye the landspeeder could hav rear wheel turning?

MajorTom11: with such cold winters we have nothing to do but sit inside, curl up and spend many dark hours on the hobby

WarMill: I did not make the tutorial but the guy who did was definately thinking! I'm sure there is less need for it now that the GK kits are out but this is defiately good for bits saving. It was super easy and I didn't even waste a single head. Just take less than more until you get the hang of it.

Regnak : Thanks!

Young_Logan : I imagine the rear wheels would spin on the speeder; at least that is the easiest explanation. Sorry for the thread being so random (I'm all over the place with it) but I do have many projects! The Space Wolves are my favourite small models too and were so fun to make that I'll be doing 5 chaos thousand sons conversions from terminators into oblits. I just have to wait on some parts (though that will likely be 4-6 weeks since I haven't ordered yet and the supplier isn't returning my emails. It may be chaos but I'll toss the stuff in here too, along with the dreadnought conversions I've done when my camera is up.

Nice looking hover bike, I thought about doing a large circular intake on my hover bikes but couldn't figure out how to pull it off so went another route.

Great blog over all - Subbed

I realize this is a completely different topic than my original, but I've had a new desire to work on my chaos army (which was never mentioned here I believe) and as this will likely only be a handful of models (all of which will standin as loyalists anyway with the exception of the daemon princes) I didn't want to start a new thread.

I really wanted to have a daemon prince ever since I started the hobby. After looking through a lot of online images months back I decided that I needed something to make a small unique force that I could add to my existing marines. I've gone down a road where I've sold off all of my xenos and have a large collection of marines and guard now. I've also sold off a lot of my old painting that was sub-par to my current level and worked toward having multiple 'small' armies that can work together and mix and match. As an example, my drop pods, terminators and devastators are all Space Wolves, my tanks and assault marines are all Blood Angels, my fast attack (speeders/bikes) are all Night Hawks and someday I will have tactical marines that are all roman-esque ultramarines or custodes. I see no reason why select groups of marines would not form multi chapter forces and it actually looks cool on the table to see multiple chapters present. Of course I pick 1 codex to pull rules from at any given game and basing all of my models the same helps them mesh well.

Further to this, I really liked my space wolf conversions as it was quite fun to do and I love the look of the beefy shoulder pads. I've ordered a bunch of chaos terminators and conversion parts to make Tzeentch terminator sorcerers which will be my obliterators. I've also put together a few dreadnoughts though none have seen paint. This way, my dreadnought detatchment (see above) will be thousand sons. I dislike tentacles and spikes and the more pre-heresy look of my models will help them in this regard. I don't believe there will be any issue with my Tzeentch dreads looking good beside my loyalist marines in a battle since they're just imperial models painted to the same scheme as my daemon prince. Recent recruits right? The oblits also won't be super chaos like and also should be fine to use along-side loyalists. Giving everything (not the daemon prince) an egyptian look but not painting thousand sons scheme will also help to give the image in chaos games and not pigeon-hole me when they're substituted in. I realize some die-hards may be against this but the hobby keeps getting more expensive.

Anyway onto the model (click to zoom in)


I'm really trying to work on my gold trim and I tihnk it's a sweet contrast with blue. The wings were done with adeptus battlegrey and 2 washes of badab black which gives it some easy texture. I went pretty heavy on the washes here which seemed to turn out alright (the blue is done with astronomicon grey and a blue wash). Since I've never painted blue really (aside from a librarian) I sort of went for a really bright look. I'm not usually a fan of bright colours on 40k models but daemon flesh should stand out I think.

I have a 2nd prince to paint up as well and will post him eventually too. Enjoy.

looking good bro.

I think it's done minus a small touchup on that left shoulderpad where the gold ran over.

I took the same base model of course but I wanted him to have a giant weapon and hated the stupid middle finger that he was giving (with both hands!). So I cut off a significant portion of his middle fingers (I'm not a puritan; but the model just looked dumb). I cut all of the fingers off of the right hand and reattached and green stuffed them to hold the axe. I also wanted him to look suitably magic so he's holding a ball of energy. I'm going to do something similar on the oblits.

My obliterator parts mailed so I should be able to start on those - or my Dystopian ships whichever comes first.

Here's a sneak peak of the oblits (Tzeentch Sorcerers) I'm working on (parts came in today). I have to make some sort of small magical flame or something in his hand.


I don't really think the helmets work in the dread though. They're narrower than a marine helmet but the same height. Maybe that idea will now go out the window and it'll be back to the drawing board on what army to make these 3 dreads part of.


As for the daemon princes, in a very fluff based army, my friend and I (chaos) fought two marine players using 3 daemon princes. Yeah ok so not fluffy at all but at least only 1 of them was lash! We mopped up with them. It was fun to use my first MC ever (Strakken doesn't count).

I love the look of the Tzeentch Sorceror.

I also think that if you put wires that go into the sides of the helmet on the dreadnought, it would look pretty good and bulky.

I've juts sold off a valkyrie and 2 medusa tanks that I had and I'd like to put that money toward some basilisks. I love the image of them and would like to make two Armageddon pattern enclosed cab style. Has anyone ever seen a template for this compartment? I've seen a few scratch builds that looked pretty terrible (and a few good ones) but no templates for it.

If anyone could PM me such a thing that would be great!

I also just finished putting together a cadian-esque Marbo which I'll paint up and share soon.

This is probably the best place to start looking can't remember if their was the Armageddon pattern on there but it's worth a first check http://paperhammer40k.com/

I finally was motivated to build and paint a Cadian Marbo counts-as. He's WYSIWYG and has all of the parts he should. I went with a darker fatigues scheme than the rest of the army but he should still fit right in among the rest. I also tossed on some las burns on the shrine that he's hiding behind using MIG pigments; I really like these things.





Corporal Chevy "Ace" Lampoon
As a veteran of many conflicts Corporal Lampoon found himself in command of his platoon following the untimely death of his platoon leader. Lampoon quickly slew the three gaunts that managed to close on their position with a fury that inspired the surrounding men. Despite this, when the men looked to him for orders he simply froze. Years of following the orders of others while in the personal retinue of his platoon commander had turned him into a man of action; not a chiefan to direct others. Unable to direct the remaining men, the platoon fell into disaray and was quickly overwhelmed. Though the war was not lost, how Lampoon managed to survive this encounter is not known.

Shamed by his actions (though tale of it never did reach high command) the corporal resigned to play a more solitary role on the battlefield in an attempt to attone for his failure without the weight of others' lives on his shoulders. With the ever constant guilt of his former platoon's death haunting him, Lampoon can be seen throwing himself into the most dire of situations in an attempt to turn the tide of battle. Be it eliminating the leader of an enemy warhost, scattering elite troops or destroying key armour, Lampoon appears from the shadows only to draw the attention of entire enemy regiments. How he survives the greivous wounds he inevitably suffers in the aftermath is anyone's guess.

Nice. The fluff is great, perfect for Marbo. That conversion really means business too. Very cool.

Love the fluff, works perfect!
Also the miniature is pretty cool, though I've always been a fan of the two handed grip for rifles and carbines

sc0ttfree wrote:Love the fluff, works perfect!
Also the miniature is pretty cool, though I've always been a fan of the two handed grip for rifles and carbines

Well then good thing that it's a "Ripper Sniper Pistol" and not a rifle or carbine Just ignore where all of the parts came from ha ha ha. Thanks for the comments guys.

TheAmbit wrote:

mmmh, don't really like so much the leg........a rounded one for the up and different way for the low.....use same style, IMHO

FantasyBob I agree with you completely. I'll rip those off. On my other two I actually used inverted round ones so that they meld a bit better. Thanks for the suggestion I'd not noticed how dumb it looked.

I finished off my counts-as Mepheston. I really didn't like the current metal model so I took a Sanguinary Guard model and added on a grey knight rear torso for a psychic hood. The large two handed sword (and his mind power!) should show the Strength 10 beasting and the backpack will show off his other power.

I didn't want a standout blue body with my army (which is mostly an armoured core) so I stuck with a blue shoulder pad.



The only thing I wasn't happy with is the face on the leg. I don't even like this part of the model truth be told but the bits order I placed couldn't provide the one I wanted. I suppose you make due with what you have.

I just noticed I missed the gem on his hilt; will have to fix that. I'll also post a better picture in the future when it's light out. The white balance is all messed up in this one.

I love those GK helm terminators you made! The Terminators boxed set came with like a dozen heads so I had a ton of spares, and started applying them to my Sergeants, veterans, and Chapter Master/Captains.

I wish you had finished some of those Valkyries - some sexy flying machines those are.

Also, thanks for the jetbike tutorial - I was going to do one of those for my bike Captain but didn't know where to start.

I didn't know the terminator box had so many extra heads. I used SW which only had 5 of the helmet variety. Does it look strange on your non terminator models?

The valkyrie just wasn't speaking to me on a modelling standpoint and while it looks awesome, it stands out like a sore thumb on the table and never lived very long. They're a great model but suffer from what I feel is a requirement to spam.

I hope you can make some bikes out of the parts you have. My attempt was very simple (I've seen some awesome ones done with eldar parts) and I tried to avoid having to purchase bits (I had all those left overs).

Better image of Meph:

Wow February?! This army has been done for a few months but I never got around to taking any pictures. I may add a few more long fangs (the remainder of my old devastators are soaking in greenstuff) but as far as I'm concerned this army is complete.

Here is a full shot of the army:


Followed by a left to right pan




My Logan Grimnar


And my favourite of them all:


Also, an amazing excerpt from a 1250 point game I played:
I win the roll to deploy first and set up my longfangs in the 4th floor of a building within my 12" deployment and keep all of my pods in reserve; my Raven Guard opponent sets up across from me with a rhino full of troop and a jump pack squad with Korvydae beside it hidden behind a single floor building.

Depsite his deployment I could see a single marine and the tail end of the rhino with the long fangs though of course conveying cover. I drop pod 10 marines (though these were completely insignificant as you will see).

I split fire my longfangs with 3 on the rhino and 4 on the single marine I can spy. Of the units that shot the rhino only 1 shot got through (attributed to my Wolf Guard Termie)

Two jump pack marines die from krak rounds and the rhino explodes. The exploding rhino kills 5 marines inside and 3 adjacent assault marines. The assault marines fail their leadership roll at the end of the phase and run off the table (with Korvydae) and the rhino squad then fails their 25% loss leadership and falls back off the table as well.

After this single round of shooting (my terminators didn't even fire their combi weapons) my opponent has had approximately 600 points run off the table. Needless to say the game was over at that point and I awarded my Wolf Guard a special Raven Guard decal on the underside of his base to remaind and taunt my opponent. Cried of Long Fang power aside, the whole thing boils down to a single lucky shot from one model with a missile launcher that killed a rhino and 8 marines and my opponent's terrible luck with rolling that game.

Pure win

So I managed to purchase someone's IG collection for the price of 1.5x Leman Russ tanks (like my new monetary unit that transends countries?). The pieces were not in that great of shape but lets say it will be easy to divide up and sell everything for the price of around 4 Leman Russ hulls and get to keep two hulls for myself!

So what have I made? Well I wanted another Vindicator for my Space Marines (of any chapter really) but after making the tank couldn't really paint it as one. Looking through Imperial Armour there is the IG Thunderer which is essentially a vindicator with better armour. So there you have it. I'll paint it up to match my IG army and use it in both my SM games and IG games as either a Thunderer or a counts as Vindicator. I really like the idea of having a combined arms look to a table top army so having some IG in my marine army (not rules wise) will look cool.



The hellstorm cannon from a baneblade I think (found in my bits box) fit exceptionally well with a bit of spacing into the lascannon mount. Paired with a few other additions, including removing the turret ring, it has the profile of a vindicator and a unique look to it.

With the last hull (I would have kept more but didn't really have any ideas - he had a lot of tanks) I decided to give my IG a unique looking vehicle. To match my Space Wolf army and to fit with their old 3rd edition fluff I made a Leman Russ Exterminator. Luckily the tank hull is the old original design which is more boxy (and old means old right?) so it should be the best option for my older looking space wolves that are painted as 13th company. The autocannon gun from the new kit fits perfectly into the old turret. Well done GW.



I squeezed a marine into the copula and added a dark angels tech marine helmet (the symbol was filled in with GS). In game this bad boy will count as Pask in a Leman Russ Executioner which actually explains the BS 4 (just like a marine!). If I use it alongside my Space Wolves there should be no issue among my friends counting it as a Predator with las sponsons.

I'll keep everyone updated with a final painted shot.


In other news I decided to join the blog craze and keep one of my own.
The Hobby Ambit

I doubt there will be much unique there that I wouldn't share with everyone here but it will be a nice way to keep everything sorted and easily searchable for anyone interested in my stuff. I'm going to slowly update it with all of my previous stuff as well.

I really like the Vidicator-counts as. Very creative use of bitz, and a stellar looking model. Looking forward to seeing some paint on it.

Apparently I wasn't finished with them...

I couldn't help but power through painting this thing. I was so happy to make it and then after using it in a game (as a Leman Russ Exterminator with Pask) it has earned a spot in my army. It may not be the best heavy support IG can take but it sure was fun to use and struck fear into my opponent. Painting it was a lot of fun too. I've been going nuts with my new air brush as of late (well it's six months old at least but I haven't bothered or had the courage to use it until a few weeks ago). This guy really fits in with the rest of my Space Wolves too and will play as a Predator in games when its not used as a Leman Russ.


I really wanted the tank to look battleworn but not rusty. Just like it had been shot at quite a few times after a nice fresh coat of paint. I suppose that doesn't fit SUPER well with being 13th company (I read the codex and it does say that they have 'limited' armour so I can have one). Who knows, maybe ceramite doesn't rust? Actually I'm sure someone knows...

I had a spare Dark Angel tech marine head and tossed that on the tank commander. I'd assume he'd be an Iron Priest and all renditions I've seen don't paint him red. I did go with the black and white cog eye piece though which helps to add a bit of colour to a grey model.









Next up, Space Wolves Dreadnought...

Don't forget to check out my blog http://theambit.blogspot.com/

Space Wolf Dreadnought!





He's taller than a normal dread and has a large hammer crafted out of a drop pod missile pod and some old las cannon parts from a leman russ. I also wanted some wolf pelts but wasn't that good at green stuff sculpting so I fit the terminator cloak to him. I did GS the gaps in the pelt and the portion on the rear where the army would have went.

Now that I'm painting this thing (and I feel it is finished) aside from a few small touches... Should the armpits and such be metalic/black/dark etc. or is it ok to match the whole armoured plating? Also, the insides of the chest 'windows' I'm not pro enough to freehand. . . anyone forsee a visual problem with this?

I finished off the last bit of my Space Wolves Dreadnought this morning. After a varnish I'll put a decal or two in the thigh guards to seal the deal but otherwise he should be ready to kick some chaos skulls in. . .

I sponged this guy pretty liberally to make the damage stick out. I also wasn't drawn to the face enough so I painted his nose spike gold to match everything. I was scared of going a bit overboard on the gold and making it look to gaudy but I think this is just enough to fit in with my terminators.

I also use da bit of tausept ochre drybrushing on the roof by the lamp to make it appear on. The arms come off so that I can swap in other weapons. He'll likely end up a rifleman most of the time.

I have two more that I am in the midsts of painting (Iron Fist and Blood Angel) and could likely get another done this week. I'm not really likely the yellow on the imperial fist though but am not sure why. I just am not a yellow guy I guess. Soon enough I'll have a nice little band of dreads to move around. Because of this (and the different chapters involved) I think the 'extra' weapons are going to be painted black and non descript so that they fit on all 3 torsos and don't look out of place.

That dreadnought is awesome.

I finished off the Space Wolves Dreadnought's flamboyant brother. This guy turned out a bit too flashy for my liking but there's little to do about that now. I'm not really a big fan of all of the banners. . .



I do like purity seals but maybe I shouldn't have gone sofar with all of the parchment. Who knows... What can you do! Maybe not take photos so zoomed in

This guy has removable arms like the other and will be used as an ironclad or furioso depending on the army book I choose to use. Eventually finishing off the trifecta will be my Imperial Fist Ironclad though I'm not sold on the in progress painting I've done.

I couldn't find a pattern online for an armageddon pattern basilisk hull so I decided to make my own armoured crew compartment. I really wanted a low profile compared to what was offered so instead of attempting to copy the forgeworld model I improvised. . .

I cut out the typical heavy bolter hull mount and made a craddle for the earthshaker. You can see the tripod it rests on in the picture to the left. I also made the cannon mobile but after I finish it up it won't move anymore. I'm going to add cloth to the opening where the cannon comes out of the hull to cover up the lack of interior. From what I've read this is done with glue and cloth/tissue/gauze so it won't be able to move at that point.

The model now has the height profile of a leman russ without a turret so it looks really slick compared to that ugly shield on the stock model.

I think I'll make one more and sell my third one. Two should be enough for most games I play. That will put me at seven heavy support options using 5 seperate model varients so I already have too many to squadron up. I don't see any need to run 3 of these together.

I made some progress on painting the rest of my armoured company but ran out of graveyard earth. Base coating 8 tanks used up an entire paint pot and I only managed to get a 2nd coat on 4 of them. Off to the store to buy more so I'll have enough to do these basilisks.

Great job on the basilisk. It looks great and still fits in well with the 40k universe.

I spent the last week finishing up my land speeders. I'd primed and basecoated these months ago but never had the motivation to start them. Once the paint started to fly though I couldn't stop. I love these little guys.


I've got the tech marine piloting one as my fluff dictates and the shoulder markings show the company they're attached to. This will also be useful if I want to have a squad of 2. I'm going to do the rest of the bikers in the same style and will probably go with blue or yellow on the majority of them. I have 3 squads to do (and a captain) and was thinking of making two squads one colour (1 company) and a 3rd squad another. Maybe matching 1 of the speeders though I am not sure. I'm going to have to redo the fluff to maybe include 5 speeders per company.


The weapons are all magnetized so that I can swap out autocannons or whatever at a later date though I like this pattern the best at the moment. Adding dirt was pretty easy with an airbrush. One spray of scortched brown and another of I think bubonic and done.


I really liked the blue jet exhaust I put on my Mephiston so I copied it here. They're very fast ground cars

Love that bassie mate, your guard army is chock full of characterful conversions. The marines are pretty great too

The models I've ordered for my Custodes haven't come in yet so I'm not sure on their scale. Anyway if they turn out to need a rhino, I have just the thing!
I still have to gap fill quite a bit of it but you ge the idea. I may look around for some rails to mimic the rhino but I'm not sure where I'd find them


A mk1 rhino hull is definately the easiest scratch built vehicle I've done so far.

Thats quite a cool design, did you draw any inspiration from anywhere for it?

Yeah this cool thing!

I don't know how I missed this thread.... but my jaw is on the ground.

I might have to try this model all winter thing, it is getting too cold out!

Here's a WIP of a 'Fellblade' that I am in the progress of making from a shadowsword kit. I'm planning to use the Banehammer rules with the modification that the sponsons are TL lascannons and models cannot shoot from it. It shouldn't change the rules too much as it was treated as open topped for disembarking originally.





The length has been reduced by an entire panel which took quite some time. It is now equal length to a landraider and can be a counts-as landraider in normal games.. Visible in the images above, the cannon is removable. I plan to finish the top so that it can function as a land raider for my space wolves or as a banehammer in apocalypse. I figure reducing the length and giving it a transport capacity of 12 (6 terminators) is quite fair.

Since I don't have room to put the hull mounted TL heavy bolter, I'm going to have two long fangs sitting on the front. The guy above is an oldie but I think to give it some contrast I'll put a current addition heavy bolter guy on the other side.

I still have work to do but I wanted to share my progress so far.

I've moved the longfang over. He looked a bit unsteady where he was and now has someone to talk to without yelling over the vox. I doubt that cannon is loud anyway. I just love the image of soldiers clammoring over the top of the tank riding into battle, or providing covering fire as the terminators inside run out into the battle.


It was a giant pain to cut the hull to match on each side. Since the tracks are made of two panels plus guide bars for the wheels I had to cut every piece and reinforce it all with plasticard. I luckily had purchased some clamps a few months ago that work GREAT for holding drying models where you want the parts to stay. I'd recommend these to everyone and I think the package deal had 8 or so clamps of different sizes for 20 dollars.

In apocalypse I'm going to run this as a banehammer with reduced capacity and BS 4. I used it last weekend and the 6" maximum movement is a huge impairment for an assault vehicle and once you start moving forward it isn't hard to lose the main gun. All in all it is a very balanced unit even though I stole it for my spacewolves instead of IG.


Most importantly, the top can be removed and it is a landraider! I call that winning at GW economics.

I've finished a heavily converted landraider project to count as an achilles. Here's a sneak peak!



More images are avaialble here at my blog:

The Hobby Ambit

It was super fun to put together (tons and tons of resin bits), I did a lot of casting, green stuffing, gluing, painting and I think every technique I know how to do so it was a really great total project.

love the look of those sponsons... do you have a WIP pic of those? how did you do them so rounded?

wow, theres some really neat painting going on here, and your vehicle conversions are great. I love these landspeeders on wheels!

Viktor von Domm wrote:love the look of those sponsons... do you have a WIP pic of those? how did you do them so rounded?

They're a 3rd party bit made by Machinator, he's on Ebay under blood and skull industries I believe. Makes some nice stuff. There's some shots of the tank in white on my blog if you search achilles.

ah ok! thanks mate! will do so!

I sat down, inspired to finish this this weekend. A lot of NCAA basketball to watch also helped . These guys will likely be counts-as thunderhammer/stormshield terminators in most games though they could likely count as whatever I want since they have a bolter (or halbred for GK). The gold was painted on a tan primer using GW shining gold. A few coats of that with an airbrush then a few washes of gryphonne sepia. After that I drybrushed mithril silver over the top.



I'm really happy with how this guy's face turned out. I painted tallarn flesh over the whole head, then devlan mud. After that I overbrushed tallarn flesh again followed by a highlight of elf flesh on all of the highpoints like nose, cheeks and forhead. I follow this up with another devlan wash in recesses of the ears, mouth and under the eyes. The eyes are astronomicon grey and chaos black. I don't like white eyes as they're too bright and look unnatural. The hair used adeptus battlegrey drybrushed on followed by a stipple of chaos black .

More pictures of the complete squad and closeups at my blog (see sig)

really nice stuff you have, only question is how did you make the buggies?

Your gold looks great!

Rogue Wolves wrote:really nice stuff you have, only question is how did you make the buggies?

There's a WIP photo here

http://theambit.blogspot.com/2011/10/argonaught-land-speeder.html

It's basically just a speeder with bike wheel/wheelwells attached to the carved out nose. No major cutting otherwise. Gaps in the old hull were filled with sheets of plasticard.

ahh simple enough, thank you

Here's my last painted mini of 2011. A Contemptor Dreadnought for my Adeptus Custodes army. The gold was GW shining gold with liberal gryphonne wash, then drybrushed with the shining gold, then mythril silver. I think it turned out pretty good for a simple process. I magnetized the arms and have a close combat weapon that I can add later once I paint it. I was a bit worried this guy would turn out too gold but I like it. I don't think I'd ever do an entire vehicle with it (I want to have an accompanying stormraven) so I'll have to figure out a scheme for that down the road.



These shoulderpads are also quite a bit nicer than the originals in my opinion since they're bulkier and will also match my terminators well. I think on a regular sized dread they may be too large but they fit here. This was my first forgeworld kit and I'm quite impressed.
More Pictures Here

i think he looks great, only thing i would do is pick out some of the raised details with a thin line of mithril, just to add more depth

I finished my first space marine bike squad after like 3 weeks of working on it. It was really really slow going and I just wasn't motivated. Not that I don't like how they turned out, there is juts a whole lot of model here to paint. If you think about sheer surface area there must be 2-3 times that of doing just a regular marine so it was pretty daunting. Originally I had 11 bikes on my desk but I dropped down to just doing 6 so that it seemed more manageable.


Sergeant Arkavius is featured here leading his squad into the fray (the guy from my fluff).

More pictures and such here

The gold on that dred looks really nice, but I think you slightly overdid it.... It's lacking secondary colors a little..... but looks good anyway!

The bikers look really good, you applied just the right amount of dust and the edges are very nicely highlighted. Well done!

I actually went back on the dreadnought and added red to the shoulders after similar comments from a friend

Cruorian War Beast (Xenos Minoris)
Standing on four long legs, each ending in thick claws, and with fur as red as fresh-spilled blood, a Cruorian war beast presents a frightening aspect. Short spikes protect the head, neck, and spine, although from what one can only hazard a guess. The forefeet have opposable thumbs, and it’s possible the Cruorians are slightly more intelligent than most think – they’ve been witnessed using crude melee weapons for example. War beasts tend to open their hunts (or a battle) with a chorus of nerve-wracking howls, eventually reaching a crescendo right before they charge. Theye are utterly merciless, and take no prisoners. In fact, some go so far as to eat the slain even before the fighting is over.

I painted this guy up for my Dark Heresy Campaign. A few more pictures and a little backstory from the campaign is on my blog.

So after quite some time I've added another model to this army. Seemed a hole in the army list of available terminators from the codex.

Quite a bit darker than my normal space wolves but still in the same style so he should fit right in. I didn't go with a true black but painted him with Charadon Granite and 3 washes of badab black. The highlights were dulled a lot in the photos but there is adeptus battlegrey on there I assure you The eyes were a pain to get to and I restarted them literally 10 times. I'm not happy with them now but I got tired of repainting them. I really need to buy new paint brushes is the problem. My detail brush is probably four years old at this point (still the blue handled GW one).



More angles here: Hobby Ambit

Here's two WIP shots of the blight drone I'm working on. The armour colour was chosen to blend with my Emerald Fist company so that everything will meld on the table and I can still use the loyalist guys as both CSM and SM. Rust, blood, flesh, lenses, metal - what more can you want from a model Just the base left to go on this guy. Usually models look better and better the more paint you add as you near completion. With nurgle they just look more and more gross

Hover Rhino finished; fluff and more photos at my blog The Hobby Ambit