So after a couple of years of working on my SoB force, the back story for them has evolved greatly. The initial idea was that the order was based on a hive world, and therefore all the bases and associated scenery would be urban-ised.

Now im in the process of writing the background fully (and ive got 6 weeks of working away from home where i wont have anything else to do in the evenings).

The basic jist of my idea is to create a series of armies that are based around one hive city/world. I am planning on having a SoB army, a Imperial Guard regiment and an army/force using either the GK codex or possibly the upcoming C:SM. Ive also got ideas for possibly having a couple of insurgent forces such as an Alpha Legion force, and possibly re-fitting my Deathguard force to fit into the same style.

All the different forces will be based similarly to keep the overall theme consistent, and have back stories showing their place in the larger theme.

Im also going to work on producing terrain and a battle table to go with the whole idea.

So the basic background:-

- Hive World Imbros is ruled by house Vyner, a extremely enterprising, ruthless and power-hungry family.

- The hive cities are ruled by the Vyner's as their own little empire. They pay their imperial tithes and give lip-service to the imperium but for all intents and purposes Imbros is another empire.

- The world sends it tithe troops away but keeps a core of trained troops as its own defence force. These are composed of the toughest ex-gangs that can be tamed. Lord Vyner has a thing for female soldiers, and his most favoured regiment is composed entirely of female ex-gangers.

- The Sisters Venatores (a minor order of the Adeptus Sororitas) where dispatched to Imbros to recover relics believed to be within the foundations of the hive cities. They have remained on Imbros ever since and draw new recruits from the populations of the cities, and continue to hunt for long lost relics.

- Saint Vyner emerged from a shrouded background shortly after the SoB force arrived on Imbros. Her miraculous interventions to help the Sisters Venatores quickly meant she was accepted as someone to follow.

- House Vyner formed an exploration force whose prime goal was to search through the ruins within the foundations of the hive cities, and amongst the desolate ash wastes beyond their walls. They look for technology, equipment and resources that can be used by the house to further its quest for power.

Im building on these basic background points and will post a bit more background with pictures of the models when i make them.

So hopefully ill be able to show a bit more of what im getting at with my modelling and painting. (i cant wait to get on with making the exploration force)

Below in the spoiler is the original text of the first post, i wanted to keep it to give an idea of where this all started.

those are awesome. though it seems the digger would be best put to use picking up unsuspecting folk off the street! really good colour scheme. If you do another big ass bull dozer blade, can you do a tutorial? I really like it.

Would love to see more pics.

Holy-! what is that giant arm thing do? You should make some kick ass rules for it, like it can pick up stuff and throw it, grab tanks and crush them, and even do some stuff in CC.

just a thought

@ Ecstasy - At the moment the arm does nothing in game, i just made it for the sake of making it and as a bit of an exercise, it was the first big plasti-card/sytrene project ive done before

@Orinoco - Ive completed making another one of those dozer blades, and ive done the majority of making another 4 on top of that. If i get time ill see if i can sort a tutorial out. It was actually pretty simple to sort out in the end. The main curve was the easiest bit to achieve and what makes all the difference in the end

@Pretre - ill stick up some more pics while i paint the Suppressor, ive just undercoated it, so ill start painting it later this week



Im also thinking of doing a few other tank conversions, I thinking maybe a mine-clearance tank with something like this attached to the front of a rhino chassis -



Or maybe a bridging vehicle, for getting over chasms and sludge pools/rivers, something like this -


A good idea?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In the mean time here are a couple of photos of my WIP Saint Celestine stand-in:

Starting Model:


Next Step:


First layer of Green-stuff:


Im not completely convinced by the hair, it looks too big, but it didnt look right not having all of that area (top of head/shoulders/backpack) covered when i was sculpting it. Any suggestions?

hair looks great. maybe give it some more life/dynamic flow? a lot the dark eldar girls' hair goes in all sorts of directions.

@Orinoco - I see what you mean, ive had a go at sculpting a bit more "movement" into the hair, ive also added a bit more detail to the head of the model to break up the expanse of hair. Im much happier with it now. Ill put up some more photos once the GS has dried.

Here is the latest squad to be finished - My Canoness and Sororitas Command squad including converted Sister Dialogus and Hospitaler:



Having looked at the photos of the models i think i need to do some more highlighting of the flesh areas as well as the black weaponry.

I quite like the idea of having a tech-marine style sister for the command squad, even if she just ends up playing as a normal sister, but at present im drawing a blank with regards to how to make her. I dont want to just echo a tech-marine from any space marine chapter....any ideas?

Moving thread to P&M Blogs at user's request.

Its been a while since i last posted anything, but here are a few more pics of my WIP Sisters army:

The Supressor is now about 50% painted:


Im trying to have a go at OSD for large floodlights on the front, but its my first attempt at it, and im not happy with it so far.
Are there any decent tutorials knocking around for it that someone can suggest?

My fiancee bought me the Imperial Armour Model Masterclass for Christmas so im intending on using some of the techniques in there to get a decent level of weathering going on, so hopefully i can get it as grimey looking as I want it to be. I figured if it spends its time on a hive world most of the time then it'd be much abused.

Here is a picture of the entire force as it is at the moment:


As you can see there is a lot to get on with. Im intending on making the Mark IV dreadnought into something Sisters-y, and the drop troop buggy into something that looks like it belongs in the ash wastes of a Hive city.

Ive also got an idea to make the Stormlord into something pretty special for the Sister-hood too, ill hopefully have something to show for it soon.

scrunty wrote:Its been a while since i last posted anything, but here are a few more pics of my WIP Sisters army:

The Supressor is now about 50% painted:

this thing is amazing!

@fantasybob - Thanks!! I was pretty chuffed with it, and so far ive managed to keep all the parts posable - even with the paint


I was asked little further back for a tutorial on how to make the dozer blade/bucket scoop on the front of my immolator on my first post. So now that ive got around to doing one here it is:


So parts first: (all bought from 4D model shop)


Then construction:


Hope that explains it well enough

Wow!!! These look great! I've never seen gritty SoB's before, they're always red/black/white and some metallic color. Btw I love the hazard stripes on the flamer tubes.

@dangledorf - Thanks! Im glad im managing to get the gritty/grimy look right(ish), im really trying to push for it. The "hazard stripes" on the flamer tubes are pure fluke, they weren't meant to just be highlights, but now you've mentioned it i can see a re-paint is in order. I really like the idea of having hazard stripes on all the flamer tubes in the army, and there are a lot of flamers!


So for the next full post: Last night i was sat about wondering what to get on with regarding my models, carry on painting the Supressor, start Saint Ulanti, do some conversion on my Stormlord, when i realised if i did any of these i would be just putting off painting the normal bods in the army. So ive decided to paint the rest of my army's foot-troops in one epic production line. Im planning on painting at least 1 colour per day on the models, last night i did the gnarloc green, here are the results:



Tonight ill try and get the power-armour painted in Denab Stone, hopefully in a little over a week ill have the entire foot section of the army completed.....maybe

On another point ive got a few models i want to get opinions on what to next with;

Firstly the Elysian Drop troops Tauros Assault vehicle:

I absolutely love this sculpt, its a bit of pain to stick together. Im looking at converting it into a SoB auxillary vehicle, perhaps crewed by the equivalent of Space marine scouts in a sisters order. Also i want to convert it into something that would look like it belonged in the Ash wastes of a hive world.

Any particular ideas that spring to mind? Im thinking things like enclosed roof, but enclosed with perspex instead of opaque material, or big ventilation devices. Maybe some stuff that for digging it out when it gets stuck in drifts or soft ash?

Secondly is the mark IV dreadnought:

Again i think this model is brilliant, and equipped with a inferno cannon and drill arm it weaponry fits in nicely with the idea of the order being in and around a hive world. The need to smash down buildings and burn things up seems like it might crop up quite often.

Any ideas of how i could make this more "sisters-of-battle-y", but still in keeping with the grimy/gritty look im going for on the rest of the force? Any ideas how i can make it look more feminine, without sticking boobs on it!

Lastly is the Stormlord Super-Heavy:


I raelly want to go all out on this one, i think firstly it needs a massive bulldozer blade for the front, and possibly some other terrain moving equipment elsewhere, but apart from that im drawing a blank at the moment. Any suggestions?

An update on the production line painting:



Its going well so far, i havent managed to get one colour per night, but ive done two colours in three nights! But the two main colours are done now, and so far ive only missed a few bits of a few models, mainly fleur-de-lys on knees and gauntlets, nothing major.

On to the smaller parts on each model now. Still vaguely on track!

Finally ive managed to finish painting all my original foot-troops. The army no has the following troops finished (to a half decent table-top standard):

- Saint Ulanti
- Canoness and retinue with 3 heavy flamers
- Mistress
- 2 x 6 man Seraphim squad each with 2 x twin inferno pistols
- 1 x Dominion squad (not quite legal, i need a few more standard bolter sisters to finish it)
- 2 x 10 man Battle Sister Squads with heavy bolter and flamer
- 4 x 5 man Retributor Squads ( 2 x 4 heavy flamers, 1 x 4 multi-meltas, 1 x 4 heavy bolters)


I havent managed to take good enough photos of a few of them (including Saint Ulanti, but when my camera has charged ill get some more up):
Heavy Flamer Retributor Squad 1

Heavy Flamer Retributor Squad 2

Heavy Flamer Detail

Multi-Melta Retributor Squad

Battle Sister Squad

Heavy Bolter Retributor Squad

Dominion Squad

Order Standard Bearer

Mistress



Im also now working on a Repentia Squad, to go with the Mistress:



Also im working on a Uriah Jacobus Counts as (i havent worked out a name for her yet):


But the next big painting task is painting 5 Immolators, 2 Rhinos and finishing the Suppressor(Engineering Tank)

After a very long absence of posting due to over commitment to getting married, work and various other activities, ive decided to get back into the flow of things and start a new but related project to the sisters venatores. With an eye to entering an armies on parade at some point im going to make an army board for the sisters. As with their background the theme will be based around a hive-world, with lots of decrepit buildings and plague zombies knocking around waiting to get burnt.

So here is where it starts - The design sketch for the board. Its a 2'x2' board but will end up being almost 2' tall as well. This is good as id like to get as much detail and as many bits of my army onto the board at possible


Next i got a chunk of 6mm MDF board, cut it into 2 2ft square pieces and a couple of lengths of 1"x1/2" timber and but that into 25 5" pillars. these will be the supports between the base of te board and the ground floor of the display: -



I screwed the pillars to the board from the underside:-


The ground floor layer sits on top like this:-


I then set about covering the basement level with rubble and plastic sheet to give an impression of metal flooring and general decay (in the process using a large proportion of my supplies!):-


The idea is to have a large hole in the ground floor level that has left a pile of rubble and debris in the basement level. Combined with this mess will be some barricades and other features that ill add to the lowest level shortly:-



So ill leave it to dry for now and come back to it tomorrow. Ill see how much extra stuff should be added to the bottom layer, then i can start working out where the models will fit in, and where the zombies they are purging will be appearing. Hopefully ill have some more to show soon.

Congratulations on getting married

I really like the look of your SoB and your army board looks interesting. I look forward to seeing it progress.

Cool concept on the board. And wicked sweet excavator. I really like the color schem as well. Will be watching this for updates.

Thanks SilverMK and Theophony

Ill try and get photos of all the other units ive got painted so far, there are a lot more than i originally posted and the army has grown substantially.

I managed to get some photos of the whole of my collection today. Here are a few snippets of the Sisters Venatores so far. Most things are still work in progress, with only 1 small unit really complete and the majority of the rest still being just painted to a basic standard. My next step is to finish the bases on all the models to match in with the display board (worn/rusty painted steel or masonry). After this ill be moving back onto finishing the Scintilla Auxillaries, my Imperial guard allied contingent, which has rapidly grown into an army of its own now. Its not going to be the most competitive of armies as ill be including no flyers (its pretty hard to fly in the underhive), and it'll be including the abhuman elements, Ogryns and Ratlings, as well as roughriders (started but not getting very far so far - Escher gangers on motorbikes).

General - Saint Ulanti (counts as saint celestine) - The model on the left is my current version and the WIP one on her right is who will replace her eventually. The cross is her marker for when she karks it in a fight:-


Gang Leaders - Eris Belisama (counts as Uriah Jacobus - Front row on left) and Cadance Sabine (counts as Arch confessor Kyrinov -Front row right (still WIP)) With a group of heavily armed Scintilla Irregulars (6 x DCA and 3x Crusaders):-


Angelus Squads (Seraphim): - 3 x 6 woman squads all squads with custom made hand-flamers/inferno pistols and sister superiors with twin chainsaws (counts as eviscerator) or power mauls:-


Agression Squads (Dominions): - 2 x 11 woman squads (i know they are max 10 but ive got extra special weapons options available):-


Retributors; All have different fluffy squad names dependent on weapon type - Heavy bolters - Retaliation Squad, Heavy Flamer - Purgation Squad, Multi-melta - Immolation Squad. I think there are 4x HF, 2x HB and 1x MM squads here with extra bodies:-


Correction Squads (Sisters Repentia) - 2 x 5 woman squads:-


Suppression Squads (Battle Sister Squads) - 4 x 15 woman squads (i think). all with 1 flamer and 1 multimelta:-


Rhinos and Exorcists (There are 9 rhino chassis', 3 can be exorcists, 5 can be immolators. Im playing aorund with different types of extra armour, such as solid space plate, and bar-armour:-


Heavy Demolition Servitor (Counts as penitent engine). I want to have a full complement of 9 of this at some point but money and time are holding me back here:-


Scintilla Auxillaries (Imperial guardsmen) - Effectively my Blob-squad. 4x 10 woman squads with heavy weapons teams, plus a 6 woman special weapon team and a platoon command squad with female commissar:-


Scintilla Pattern Hellhounds - Wheeled hellhounds:-


Scintilla Pattern Punisher Leman Russ (Left) and Demolisher (right)- Double width tracks with and extensions to rear chassis:-


Sister Venatores Colour Dreadnought - My wife bought me this model a while back as she knows ive got a bit of a thing for dreadnoughts in general, so i painted it up in Venatores colours and added flamers, i might use it as a stand in penitent engine if i need too:-


My colour concept model i did way back, it was sort of an attempt at a Pre-heresy Deathguard scheme but i never took it further along that line and just nicked the scheme to stick on my sisters:-


Hope you like! There are a load more photos in my gallery showing a bit more detail of the models and bases they are on too.

Ill get some more WIP shots of the display board in the next few days



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh i forgot to post this one too, a hive-worlded aegis defence line (or part of anyway):-

So ive managed to get a bit more progress on my display board:-

Ive added some more substantial rubble to the pile in the middle of the board, to make it more convincing that the upper level has collapsed:-


I then added the steel washers to the board where my models will sit on top. All the models have magnets in the bases, so fit nice and securely to the washers. I added debris/sand/rubble around the edge of the washers to blend them in a little:-


I want to add some lights to the project to add that other dimension to it, so i went and bought supplies and sorted out some lighting rigs, having never done this before it was interesting to play around with them:-


Added the lights to the board (in the bottom left corner) and here you can see where the models are positioned on the board. On this level is 1 squad of battle sisters, 3 retributor squads with heavy flamers, 1 full dominion squad and 1 repentia squad:-


Then the last step ive got to so far, is a basic undercoat of the board with grey black and a red-oxide primer:-


So its all ready to add the detailed paint, this'll probably take some time. I want to add graffiti and heavy weathering throughout. After that ill get on with sorting out the zombies that are going to be getting burnt. Ive got a couple of areas that are empty of models at the moment and are generally surrounded by flamer toting sisters, so should be fun. I im going to have a go at making a zombie that has an eviscerator half way through it, splitting it head to groin.

Does anyone have any tips on creating decent smoke/flame effects? I want to add a few small fires on this level too. Im going to add more lighting to the underside of the next level too, to add a bit more ambience too.

Over the weekend ive managed to put some paint on one corner of the board, Ive completed a 6x6" square, so only another 23 of these to go! Im happy with how the weathering has gone, adn the grimy effect ive achieved. When i add the floor above it the light levels will drop dramatically on this level so it will look even more dingy, which i think will add to the overall effect.






I cannot praise the AK Interactive enamel colours enough. They are very easy to use and give brilliant streaked grime/rust effects as well as excellent washes/puddles too. Ive been using the Rust streaks, Streaking grime, Slimy grime streaks, Engine grime and Dust effects. Combine these with some weathering powders (which i havent used on this board yet) and they are fantastic. Also i love the effect you get when you use watered down acetone to remove a top layer of paint over another colour. It gives a great effect of worn painted sheet metal.

Just another update of painting progress on the basement of my display board. Its coming along nicely, and about 50% painted now. Im happy with the level of detail im getting onto the board, but it might become a bit of a chore to get the same level of detail on the upper floors. I think im going to have to work out an easier way to sort some sings, posters and graffiti Any help with this would be appreciated, links to decent websites where i can print off scale copies of things would be cool.

Heres a corner of the board prior to doing weathering:


Some more of the board finished:

Im slowly trying to increase the narrative of the board. A large "No Smoking" sign with a fire/explosive symbol below it, just adjacent to the area of the board that is devastated. There might have been something that shouldnt have been tampered with in the centre of the board.

Birds Eye view of a finished section:

That board is excellent, and you collection of SoB is great.

Love the converted vehicles, Syd Bishop in space

So after a good week of "working from home" ive managed to get the painting finished on the basement of my display board. Im really happy with it, and i cant wait to add the extra bits to the underside of the first floor to add even more flavour (ive got plans for hanging wires, dripping pipes, lights etc.). Here are a couple of pictures of the finished basement:

The whole basement without the Sisters on it:


The whole basement with Sisters on it:


And here are a couple of shots of detailed bits with and without sisters:





Here is the next part, the ground floor is just placed on top of the pillars:


and here is the view through the hole:


There are a load more pictures of the whole project so far in my gallery.

I cant wait to get this all put together and painted up. Then all ill have to do is find somewhere in the my house to store/show-off the thing!

Ive had a slight pause in making the display board, and decided to make a few bits of random terrain from stuff lying around. I started by using a load of forgeworld resin sprue pieces (sourced from a friend with a bit of a forgeworld habit!) to make barricades. I think they look like a scale version of the concrete barricades you see between lanes on roads. The larger the sprue pieces the better, but that means buying larger forgeworld pieces, and my source hasnt got bottomless pockets!

Sprue:


By adding a few bits of wire, some scale corrugated iron, some plaster columns and a few other bits and pieces i constructed the barricades:


While listening to a podcast (i think 11th Company) while i was making the above, i heard a discussion about making forests for different world environments, and that making a hi-tech/industrial "forest" would be hard to do. I decided to have a try and see what i could come up with. Firstly i thought about columns with dangling wires and came up with this:

Im not entirely happy with this, but i think it will be a bit better once painted.

Then i had a brain wave, how about the conductors you see in electricity sub-stations, they would have stems (ironwork) and branches (insulators and wires), so with a load of plasti-card i put this together:


If i make another one (which im thinking of doing because i quite like the result) then id add more "trees", but id have to find a better way of making the small insulator discs as they were a pain and a faff to make. Suggestions on making 1/4 inch plastic discs with a 1/8 inch hole in the centre?

So as a further departure from getting on with my display board i started work on another Heavy Demolition Servitor (i was in Nottingham and it seemed rude not to buy a contemptor dread while i was there!).

This one is equipped with two wrecking balls instead of the cutting discs of the last one. So far im happy with the pose of the beast, plus how it interacts with its base. Once ive got a fews more splats of paint on it, ill stick up another couple of pictures:




and its base:

That display board will definitely be a sight to behold when everything is finished. The bits you've shown so far look incredible.

I really like the paint scheme on your Sisters. I thought they looked a bit Death Guard-ish when I started reading the thread, I was happy to find out I was right.

The wrecking ball machine looks interesting

Ill get a couple of extra photos up of the wrecking ball servitor, ive finished the base and started the first couple of bits of painting on the model itself.

In the mean time here is a load of scatter-scenery finished now, all in the urban/underhive style:


My Underhive "Forest" or Substation:

Oh wow! Specially your terrain, that is some impressive work

Here's the update of the Wrecking beastie:

Its base:


with smashed pillar details:


And the servitor with some yellow on it:


here is the servitor with a bit more of the detail filled in and on the base:


C&C's welcome....also any ideas for the weapons/tool load out for the next demolition servitor in the series

A quick update: Because i cannot stick to one project at a time, i have flitted away from finishing the heavy demolition servitor and have moved on to trying a new paint scheme for all my tanks. Also with the updated forgeworld rules for repressors ive decided to convert some of my rhinos into repressors. Here are a couple of shots of the new scheme on a forgeworld repressor and exorcist. Im pretty chuffed with the results so far. Even went so far as to try some very simple OSL, and that hasnt turned out to bad in my opinion.

Repressor:


Exorcist:


My first repressor conversion is finished and ive started the camo scheme on that, ill post a pick up of it soon.

C&C welcome

Interesting urban camo theme. I like it. Your wrecking ball servitor is great: looks like he is dancing and causing a mess! Nice take on the theme though: I find a lot of people don't go "dirty" enough with their bases when trying to do what you are doing: demolition isn't debris free!

Thanks! I know what you mean about the too clean bases. I love going the whole hog and making a dilapidated base covered in debris. its half the fun of making the model.

Just a quick update showing some progress on re-doing my SoB tanks. So far ive finished 2 x Repressors (1 forgeworld one and 1 home made conversion) and 1 exorcist. Ive built and started painting another repressor conversion, as well as 2 x rhinos and my stormlord:

Repressors -


Stormlord -


Whole Squadron so far -


C&C always welcome

MOAR dozer blades! Must have ALL the dozer blades! Dozer blades FOR the dozer blades!
Seriously, looking pretty good. Not sure if I like the digital camo scheme, but its painted really well.

Not nearly enough love for this thread. Lots of awesome conversions, especially the walkers, any chance we can get a close up of the cock-pit? It looked like you've done some fairly extensive green stuffing in there but I couldn't make out the details.

Anyway looking good, keep up the good work.

D

Oh my Emperor, this thread is fantastic!

Absolutely top notch work mate!

If you need some posters BTW I have some nice .pdfs you can have, PM me your email and I'll send them over to you

I am definitely going to steal some of these ideas, brilliant stuff!

@ Dr Cheese - Ill try and get some photos of the cock pit over the weekend. its not too fancy green stuff work really though.

@Tibbsy - Thanks for the posters! they are brilliant, they will definitely find there way onto my army display board at some point soon.

In the mean time my constant flitting from project to project has meant no further advancement of any of the above projects but i have started trying to do a bit of casting and ive just sorted the first half of the mould for a Rough Rider counts as model for my allied guard regiment. Ill get some pictures up once the mould has cured.

Also im working on creating some Pit-Slave Ogryns to also go in the allied guard bit, but im drawing a blank on how to do the "Chimera" transport for them. Ive got ideas of a circus-style cage arrangement at the moment, but im not sure that will look any good, so im very much open to suggestions.

In an effort to actually progress my projects i sat down and finished my 2nd heavy demo servitor (counts as penitent engine). Here are a couple of photos, including one of the cock-pit as requested. More are in my gallery.







And both servitors together:


Ive bought and almost finished making the 3rd servitor, its got a different weapon/tool load out again, but is posed causing destruction just like the other two...more pictures soon

C&C always welcome

Really fantastic work on these!

They are awesome, I really love what you've done there! The one smashing the pillar is my favourite I think, brilliant posing work.

Glad you liked them posters! I can't remember where I got them from now, it was a few years ago, might have been from the B&C, but I made damn sure to keep a copy! They just scream "Imperium"

If anyone else wants them, drop me a PM

Just a quick update, ive finished constructing the 3rd heavy demolition servitor/penitent engine (except the roll cage which goes in last), and ive started putting the base colours on.



I start with vallejo model color beige for the yellow and then use GW Casandora yellow shade over the top. Its really key to get the beige layer clean and even as although the yellow gives a lovely yellow colour its very thin and shows through any imperfections in the layer below, and i cant but two layers of the yellow on as it starts to turn orange instead.

Also i had an urge to make some servo-skulls after seeing this thread - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/990/521240.page

So i ordered from resin skulls from scibor miniatures and some guitar wire from eBay and knocked up these:



Im planning on using thess with a GK allied detachment in the future, also im thinking of adding them to the base of certain models, possibly making them magnetised so i can use them as wound/hull point counters.....possibly!

as always C&C welcome


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh i forgot to put this up too. Ive been tentatively playing around with resin moulding in the last couple of weeks and ive started by making a slimmed down motorbike for a unit of rough riders i want to make for my allied IG detachment:



The thing im struggling with at the moment is the rider. I want to get a model that is similar stylistically to the necromunda escher models who make up the bulk of my guardswomen, but trying to cut up and convert a metal model into a hunched over bike rider a-la a superbike rider is difficult. If anyone has a suggestion as to plastic bits i could use or a model which is possibly a good match then id really like to know.

So ive managed to finish another project - My Stormlord, and here are a couple of pics:






Althought now with the new Apoc datasheets out i can not longer run it without sponsons, so ill be painting them up shortly and making some magnetic attachments for them.

So over the weekend i managed to get quite a bit done. Ive done all the basic camoflaging on all my SoB and associated tanks. This has involved repainted a few tanks to get more of a cohesive feel to the vehicles. Im pretty sure its going to look much better than my first attempts once they are all finished. Also the 3rd heavy demolition servitor is getting closer to being finished. Ive got the free hand details and battle damage to do and its good to go really.


All my vehicles in one place for the first time:


Allied Leman Russes, Punisher and Demolisher varients:


Allied hellhounds:


Wall of AV13 repressors:


Heavy Demolition Servitors/Pentitent Engines (the 3rd WIP one is at the back):


So at present my open/in progress projects include:

- Battle damage/detailing on all tanks (except 4 already finished)
- Finish painting newly altered seraphim (which now have swooping hawk wings instead of standard jump packs)
- Cast up and finish building 10 x "rough rider" bikes
- Finish painting my Necromunda Escher "Imperial Guard" units (4 x 10 guard squads +SWS +PCS + CCS)
- Convert up 5 x Ogryn Pit slaves
- Convert up 8 x Ratling snipers to something more hive world suitable - Any ideas????
- Get started on the 2nd level of my army display board.

Im not sure what im going to be able to concentrate on more at the moment. Ive managed to get stuck into the Guard squads and they arent too far from painted, but i havent started their bases and they take ages to do. Im open to suggestions as to what people would like to see more of though.

As always C&C always welcome

So i got distracted again and started making some more scenery from the massive bag of forgeworld sprue a friend gave to me. Here are a couple of photos:

Concrete Block/Jersey Barrier Bunker:







Sorry about shoddy phone photos.

what a great blog! You've got some serious game, sir. Love the tank and how grimy your bases are. Also very chuffed to see some one else using that ganger as Jacobus Rhia Jacoba all the way!

Ha! Yep I like the ganger model for Jacobus, the Escher models have got so much character. I think I'm going to strip and re-do mine soon as its not quite where I want it to be. I also use mad Donna as kyrino, but she isn't finished yet.


Thanks for the comment. I'm really happy with my finished bases, only my seraphim are completed ( although some of the IG allies might be too). They take ages to complete but are worth it. Not looking forward to finishing the remaining 60-80 bases I have left to do on my bog standard sob though!

Ah, thought about using her, but just didn't feel right. My Kyrinova is the one in the middle of this pic:

And my Jacoba

So after a bit of a hiatus due to work ive beeing trying to get a few things finished. So ive done all of the bases for my SoB troops, and ve got almost all of my IG troopers painted now. Ill stick up a couple of photos tomorrow.

But more importantly ive been working on the whole background to my ideas, ive edited the name of this thread and the first post to represent what im trying to achieve. If you are interested then have a look over the 1st post and see what you think.

Ive got a load of ideas on how to represent different aspects of the different forces im planning on, but i always welcome new ideas and alterations/suggestions.

A more meaty post will follow shortly...hopefully....

So a bit of a break due to work has lead to not much progress. I did however pick up a coupe of the new fortifications, the Vengence Weapon Battery and the Firestorm redoubt. Ive started the process of getting them to the same style as my SoB and IG Armies. Here's the WIP shots or the weapon battery just prior to priming:





Both together:


Im really happy with how they have come out, ive removed a few of the skulls and added some nice urbanised reinforcements - The concrete slabs are from http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/ as are the metal control panels. I highly recommend this place, they have some fantastic products and have very speedy delivery.

Next up will be a shot of all my SoB tanks, which are finished! Im also 2/3rds way through painting my IG tanks also. But i have just purchased a Malcador Infernus - http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Guard/Imperial_Guard_Super_Heavy_Tanks/MALCADOR-INFERNUS.html and it should be here next week. Cant wait to get started on hyper-detailing it. im really planning to take my time of that model as its got so much going for it and fits so nicely into the background of the Hiveworld based Force.

Great work mate, nice idea with the weapon batteries. I too am working on my SoB tanks, and have just acquired an Infernus! It's like we're totally wired to the same crazy place

Ha! yeah it does doesnt it! Ive got a few other ideas for my next forgeworld pieces, we'll have to see if they match up when i get them!

So my Malcador Infernus finally arrived, and was pretty simple to put together (there was only a minor bit of bending to required to straighten one part). I decided i wanted to really go for it with this model on the detail and weathering front, so first up i started adding further detail to the model:

Sledge hammer added to trailer/tender:

Pneumatic hammer and altered back pipe added to trailer/tender;

Climbing rungs added to one of the track sides:

Heat shield added to main exhaust:

Driver's Chainsword:

Spare track link and spade added to hull:

Driver's helmet, spent ammo and whip aerial;


Now its off to prime it and then i can paint the section behind and under the massive flame cannon, after that i can then start the camo pattern.

I decided to get at least 1 project finished today! So here are my completed Vengeance Weapon Batteries:









C&C always welcome. Im pretty happy with how these came out, and personally i like the toned down gothic/skull style. The new fortifications are nice models, but as always with GW they do have way too many skulls and other pointless ornamentations on.

What do people think of the basic graffiti on these? How can i improve it?


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Heres a couple of close ups of my attempts at graffiti:





and before anyone says anything i see the irony of moaning about how many skulls GW put on their kits, and me painting one freehand on the same model!!

Great work on the defense cannons . They are magnificent ideas come to plastic life. Have you don any more work on the heavy construction servitor 3 yet? I love the idea of those guys.

@Theophony - Thanks! like i said im really happy with how those fortifications came out. Im really into painting terrain at the moment. Regarding the Heavy Demolition Servitors here are a couple of new photos of the three i have now finished (there are no more in the pipeline at present unfortunately).





All three servitors together:



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One final update for today - Just finished a few servo-skulls to fit in with the whole army aesthetic but not actually do anything game wise:

This thread is pure awesome.

First your subtle conversion on your sisters from your firsy couple of post are amazing. I love the fact that you took a subdued color scheme and applied it to sisters, not many if anyone has done that that i;ve seen.

second, your tanks look phenominal and I love the digital paint scheme, i could see those bad boys rolling through the under hive at night and just causing a rauckus.

your demo-servitors are FETHING AMAZING.... a unit of 9, just by in game terms, will be epicily hard to handle, and your conversions are genius.

Your attention to detail is outstanding, I love how gritty you got the models to look and feel, like the really have been mucking through the under hive! I'm inspired and in awe. I could never do dirty or gritty paint work, im too OCD (Thanks military training) but man I love how you pulled it off. Can't wait to see more.

When you get a game in with all your terrain, make sure you take loads of pictures of your force just rampaging through the underhive! That would be a bat-rep worth the wait for.

Thanks for the pics of number three , he looks wicked. What bits did you use on the toes for the claws?

@ Azalle - Thanks! its always nice to hear when someone likes my work! Im almost the opposite regarding dirty/gritty models, i cant have a model which isnt covered in dirt and battle damage, to me it just doesnt fit. Hopefully sometime in the near future i should be able to organise a game with all my terrain and models. When it happens ill get pictures and make sure i post about it.

@ Theophony - The toes are from the contemptor dread claw arm - http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space-Marine-Dreadnoughts/CONTEMPTOR_PATTERN_CLOSE_COMBAT_ARM_(CLAW).html - when i bought the dreads i buy them with 2 power claw arms and use them as toes instead of fingers. Plus ive got a load of spare fingers left in my bits box for some other project in the future.

Another update - Im having a productive week (well on the 40k side, less so on the actual work side!)

Ive finished updating the paint jobs on my Imperial guard allied detachment tanks:

Leman Russ Demolisher - Imbros Pattern:


Leman Russ Punisher - Imbros Pattern:


Imbros Pattern Hellhounds:



Sorry about the shoddy photos, just using my phone camera at the moment. When i get the time ill go back and take decent photos of all my stuff.

So the to-do list has shrunk a bit now, left on it is:

- Finish painting newly altered seraphim (which now have swooping hawk wings instead of standard jump packs)
- Cast up and finish building 10 x "rough rider" bikes
- Finish painting my Necromunda Escher "Imperial Guard" units (4 x 10 guard squads +SWS +PCS + CCS) - Ive got the heavy weapon squads to finish and the PCS/CCS flamer carriers to convert up.
- Convert up 5 x Ogryn Pit slaves
- Convert up 8 x Ratling snipers to something more hive world suitable - Any ideas????
- Get started on the 2nd level of my army display board. - Started but needs a huge amount of work still

Its been a while since my last update, mainly due to working out of the country, but im back now and pressing on with finishing things half done. So here is the finished (i think) sculpt of my new saint celestine counts-as : Saint Vyner:







Lots of bits of lots of different models used here, but the main one is Lelith Hesperax. Once i getting it primed then ill be able to see the rough sections a bit better and get them sorted before i put real paint on it.

C&C always welcome

BY THE EMPRAH! That is a wicked scuplt!

Thanks! Im really happy with it so far, waiting for it to dry out outside then ill prime it and see what else ive got left to do

That's a seriously spicy meatball very cool indeed.

A little update showing how ive now finished painting Saint Vyner (Counts as Saint Celestine), ive gone for a somewhat super-hero-esque look, as her background tells of how she is basically using arcane technology to pose as a "saint" who 'miraculously' gets over being shot in the face my lascannons!

Since shes been painted she has performed pretty damn dismally, but now with her new rules she might have a resurgence....maybe:




And then i got productive with the Malcador Infernus i bought a while back, i loved painting this model and ive learnt a lot about weathering with some of the materials ive recently bought. In particular i like the Ak interactive "Engine Oil" and "Fuel stains" effects. They look lovely:

The whole Beast:



The oh-so intimidating flamey-death gun:
[url=http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/549495-Malcador%20Infernus.html][img]http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/10/22/549495_sm-Malcador%20Infernus.JPG[/

The Massive liability fuel tender:




The very cool forgeworld engineered ball joint, allowing the tender to articulate and can still be removed for easy storage/transportation:


C&C always welcome,

Next on the paint table is a load of priests to stick in a new army list im testing tomorrow

Last night i had my first game with the new Adepta Sororitas Codex and i lost! but only marginally. It was a great game and i think with a bit better luck (my opponent only lost 4 terminators from 27 armour saves and 6 storm shield saves!) and me remembering new rules and bits of wargear on the models i was using i should have pulled out the victory.

Anyway to the modelling side of things. My opponent from last night was selling his Sisters of Battle army and i couldnt resist picking them up for a dirt cheap price (especially when you look at GW official prices fro the models!). I picked up roughly:

- 45 SoB
- 12 Special weapon Sisters, a mix of all three types (now i acutally own a storm bolter wielding sister!)
- 8 Veteran Sisters
- 12 Seraphim
- 10 Repentia
- 10 Retributors
- 2 Canonesses
- 3 Priests
- 10 Assorted battle conclave
- 7 Mark I rhino chassis

So as well as desperately trying to hide the fact that ive splashed a load of cash on these from my wife! Ive been busy stripping them and sorting out bases.

The whole idea of making another 100 ish bases individually filled me with dread, so i decided i should find a better way So here follows the start of my ideas:

I started by cleaning up the bases of the old models, removing superglue etc, then i stuck them top down onto the underside of several chunks of plasticard sheet. A mixture of treadplate, diamond plate, squared, planked and smooth sheet:

I made sure to leave a little gap between the bases on the underside.

Turned over is looks very dull at the moment!:


Then i added some extra styrene plastic details, such as pipes, girders, patches, hatches, grating etc.:

All the bits are stuck with plastic-cement and are styrene to make sure i get as good as a bond as possible, this will be important later on.

Then i primed all the sheets with red oxide and then washed them with AK interactive track wash effect:


The white spirit/thinners used for the track wash is currently drying, but once thats done ill give them all a quick coat of army painter anti-shine for protection

The step after this will be to put the basic colours of the floor down. From my experience with all my other urbanised bases the best colours to use are muted but bright colours (nice contradiction there!), such as pastel greens, blues and yellows, as well as beige and light greys. My using these colours when you start taking off the top coat to give a worn painted metal effect you get the nice contrast of the "rusty" red undercoat and the top coat.

Anyway more to follow hopefully shortly



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Next step in the new bases is complete, ive added the basic colours and some ,markings on the ground:


Now ive got to weather the s**t out of the whole sheet areas to make them look decent. After that ill cut the bases out and have a hundred-ish round grotty looking discs sat on my desk until ive finished painting the models to put on them....that could be some time!

Next step complete: Ive applied a worn paint effect to all the panels using acetone to scrape off the top layer of paint exposing the red/wash primer underneath. Then i applied AK interactive Rust streaks, dark grime and engine oil in patches and specific areas:






Now to add a bit of weathering powder once the washes have dried and then a layer of army painter anti-shine for protection. Then i can start cutting them up into their individual bases.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Updates coming thick and fast now!

Added the Weathering powders:



Then went into the garage to use this beast:


Cut the bases out roughly:



And now the tedious task of cutting the extras off the edges to end up with circular bases. Scissors at the ready!

Wow that's a cracking, if mental, idea! love it!

Final step complete (well almost)! Ive cut off the extras around the circular bases (some have been left with features slightly overhanging the bases as well), but i lied that wasnt the tedious bit of the process....painting the black around the edges is the most tedious part of the whole process, but without it the bases dont look finished:

Bases cut out but not touched up with black paint:


A selection of the finished bases:



Just got another 42 to paint the edges on!

Next project is making new bits to balance my new seraphim on. Girders, I-beams, posts etc. going to have a good rummage around to find some interesting bits to pose them on.

By the Throne, thats damn impressive! Love your bases man.

I don't suppose I can beg and plead with you to make a tutorial on how you make your flamethrower flames. Those look fantastic!

@ Master Azalle - Thanks! im really happy with how they have ended up. I think this'll be the way i do my bases for this army in the future

@ WeaponPrime - I might be able to get around to doing something tutorial wise for the flame effects soon-ish. Ive got a few more i want to make at the moment, I need to differentiate my AS heavy flamers, they all look too similar at the moment, so some nice flames would do a good job of it. When i do that, ill take pictures and write a step-by-step guide

I finally plucked up enough interest to finish painting the rest of the black on the bases:

116 new bases waiting for models to be put on them -


I then wanted a break from normal models and went back to work on a fortification, this time a firestorm redoubt. So far its very WIP. Still lots of detailing to add to the metal plates and the guns:




An while i was playing around with that i wanted to make a few markers for my Adepta Sororitas army to represent how many Acts of Faith each unit had left (because i find it difficult to count to 1 or 2!), so here are a few very basic markers ready to be painted:


Next will probably be a mix of more of the redoubt, more additions to the bases and a few excursions into making pit slaves to count as arco-flagellants, death cult assassins and crusaders. Ive got about 40 necromunda goliath models waiting to be chopped up. All i need to do now is produce a huge amount of mining/industrial tools and weapons to graft onto them.... Ideas for these and how to produce them in large numbers would be very welcome!

Ive only managed a little bit of progress today:

Finished the modelling on the Firestorm Redoubt and then primed and started on the base colours. The oranges/browns are the coloour that will show through once the weathering has taken place. Ive now got the annoying task of painting all the silver on the steel areas (i really dont like painting large amounts of metallics):


Ive all-but finished the AoF markers (i need to touch up the edges of the bases in black):


And ive started on the first couple of Pit-Slaves (counts as arco-flagellants). Im using the Greenstuff industries tentacle maker to make cabling/whips for the arm areas. I need to work on the interface between whips and flesh and then add other bits of mechanical goodness to their bodies to spruce them up a bit:



Im not going to have all the pit slaves with whips, just a few, the rest will have a variety of retro-fitted tools, such as chainsaws, drills, claws, cutters, fork-lifts etc.


Im also toying with the idea of making an armoured bulldozer as a bit of a extra piece for the army, probably not to represent anything in game terms but just for the look of it (much like my recovery/engineering rhino i made when i started this thread). I want to produce something like this:
http://www.hdwallpapersinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bulldozer.jpg

But im not sure what to use as a starting block for it. Although i really like the look of the track unit on the Forgeworld Ork Big Trakk model: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Orks/ORK_VEHICLES/ORK-BIG-TRAKK.html

Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Finally ive recently got hold of a load of MkI rhino chassis that i dont currently have a use for and im trying to work out if there is something along my Hive-World/Urban Warfare/demolition & excavation corps theme i could turn them into. Again any ideas welcome.

Really cool hive army and lots of great terrain.

You are keeping an impressive pace, I actually believe that you will paint all those sisters you just aqquired

Thanks! Its nice to hear someone with faith! Im lacking it at the moment though.

I feel like the up armored bull dozer with the treads would fit a little more with the theme especially if painted simlar to your demo-contemptor-penitent engine creations

Inspiring stuff.

@Squidbot - Thanks!! To be honest a lot of my ideas come from the really good blogs on Dakka, Im especially a fan of the huge Necromunda/Terrain making community on here.

Master Azalle
I feel like the up armored bull dozer with the treads would fit a little more with the theme especially if painted simlar to your demo-contemptor-penitent engine creations

Yeah thats what i thought. I think ive worked out a way of using it in the rules also, ill run it as a Atlas recovery tank with dozer blade (from Imperial Armour books), gives it a bit of use apart from look cool. There are plans to make an entire Allied detachment in the Yellow of the penitent/contemptor (Heavy Demolition Servitors) that will represent a demolition/excavation corps that are hunting for Archeotech for the ruling House of the Hive world. Ill be using the new C:SM book to represent them and use Iron Hands tactics to add that bit of extra resilience/mechanical goodness to them.

Ive got the bits to start a Laidraider, a "drop pod" which will be a tunnelling device and a couple of land-speeders to represent worker transports. But im struggling to work out a way of representing my Chapter master on bike with Shield Eternal, i want something that obviously fits on a bike base but isnt a bike, but is uber mechanical.

Saying all this, i have got so much other stuff stacking up to do (i cannot stick to one thing at a time!) that it may be a while before i start any of this.

For the bike not bike how about one of the cygnar steampunk cavalry models?

also, excited much about =][= Codex?!

Hadn't seen the cygnar models you mentioned before, not sure if there are the look I'm going for though. I think I want something with wheels and/or tracks to be honest. Maybe a trike set-up or something like the ork bikes.

I am pretty damn excited about the inquisition codex, if the inquisitors are anything like the grey knight ones then I'd be happy already, so many options for customisation. And that's before you even get to hence men, assassins, storm troopers and whatever else might be in there!

Most of my hobby time in the last couple of days has revolved around sorting the mess out that i call my desk! To try and get a handle on all the projects ive got going at once, ive divided them into separate plastic take-away boxes. This means i can stakc them nice and neatly on the desk without taking up too much room. It also means i can see what ive got to do and can put them in an order to get on with. The top layer being the stuff i should get on with first:

So here is the new desk, isnt it tidy......it'll last maybe a week!


I also sorted through all the new AS models i bought the other day, they have been stripped and had all the tabs removed from their feet. Some still need a bit of trimming and a few new weapons attached, but in general they are ready for priming:


42 x BSS:

14 x Seraphim and 9 x Repentia:

The other box has 11 x Heavy weapons, 15 x Special weapons, 8 x VSS and a couple of assorted characters......

Lots to work to get on with here!

Also last night a (very generous) friend of mine gave me a bag of sprue from his ridiculous sized collection. Included were 2 complete rhinos, about 6 or 7 rhino accessory sprues and a couple of vindicator extra armour bits. So (combined with the last remaining rhino chassis i hadnt finished) ive started making another 2 repressors and another Immolator(using the old metal bits from the haul i bought):

These are the templates i use for all the bits to make the hull extension for the repressor:


And here are all the other bits (minus a couple of bits of plastic tube for the dozer blade to attach to) to complete the Repressor:


Now ive got to get cutting the bits out and get gluing:




Another thing that has distracted me this week is starting making another terrain piece, this time using a load of random waste packaging ive been collecting for a while. Im trying to build a chemical production plant, or at least part of it. Here are the first couple of buildings ready for final detailing (rivets/weld lines/rubble/damage etc.) before priming:




As always C&C welcome. Hopefully ill have another decent update over the weekend.

Funny, I was just thinking last night that I need a bigger work area, and then you give me this to envy.
Love what you're doing here, and the copper pipe use is so simple but brilliant, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before.

The copper bits are very handy, other bits from plumbing suppliers are also cool, there is a whole range of slightly thinner PVC pipe available too, with angle and joints being the most interesting.

I tend to hang on to anything packaging/DIY that is interesting looking, my pile of junk in the garage is a point of contention between me and my wife!

The work area is just the size of the a normal office desk, I just bought the biggest cutting mat I could find (I think it is A1 or A0 sized) so I don't have to worry about screwing the wooden surface up at all.

A bit of an update, i havent been able to get as much time on this stuff this weekend as i wanted (mainly because i got a game in yesterday morning which i won!).

Ive got a bit further with making the Repressors:



But while i was making these i had the silly plan of drinking G&T's at the same time, so one repressor top is pretty straight (or wll be once its attached to the rhino):


the other however is nice and wonky on the left hand upright, and gluing this to the tank body wont fix it! Not sure if im going to just live with it or build another one (although im very low of the right thickness plasticard at the moment):


Obviously there is still a lot to do with these two,like filling gaps and attaching the other bits ive got cut out already:


Anyway i built one of the rhino's my mate gave me and then found an original immolator top plate/gun mount to attach to it. I then changed the twin-linked heavy flamer into a TL MM because a non-fast vehicle with a twin-linked heavy flamer isnt that useful, especially when the MM costs the same:


And now my latest thing at the front of the desk is my Firestorm Redoubt, which ive put all the basic colours on(including the vast amount of silver!) and now it it ready for free-handing graffitti/ signs etc. Once thats all done ill weather it to make the worn patches come through:

You are Awesome.

shingouki:
You are Awesome

Ha, thanks! In realtity i think its just a case of me having a lot of spare time on my hands though.

Ive now finished the Firestorm Redoubt (bar giving it a coat of matt varnish). Im pretty happy with how its come out, I tihnk it fits in with my other terrain pieces/fortifications, although it's possibly edging towards the Chaosy end of the urban decay spectrum. I might reduce the amount of barbed wire on my next terrain piece:

Heres the whole thing:


and here's a few detail shots:





Im really hoping/looking forward to the rumours coming true about a 40k fortification supplement. I really like the extra level of the game that they add, and so far the fortifications that are around seem quite balanced (except the sky shield which, and lets be fair about it, completely broken and ridiculous) and perform different tasks in the game. I used the Vengeance weapons batteries in a game the other day and they performed admirably but didnt do horrendous damage compared to their point cost. Now im looking forward to using the Firestorm in a game against a few fliers, as in the past its one aspect that AS army has struggled with.

Also hopefully with more rules for different fortifications there will be more models, and more models means more potential for conversion and making scenic pieces to add to my collection.

As always C&C welcome.....now back to the next project with a fuzzy feeling inside from knowing that ive actually finished a project that has been sat on my desk for a while now!

Ah, gin! mother's ruin. Hope it was Bombay Sapphire. Also, very nice

Ha! it is indeed. Actually it was Tanqueray, my favourite, but somewhat dwindling supply, which will try to stay away from my modelling desk for the foreseeable!!

So a bit more of an update, all modelling based this time. Ive not had any time for painting recently.

To start with ive got a bit further with my Repressors, they are almost ready to be primed. I just need a supply drop of plastic rod to arrive to finish the riveting:


Ive also finished modelling the immolator i had going and another one (another rhino chassis was donated to me by a friend!):


Ive got a Vehicle designation system going throughout my AS/IG army. All the vehicles use a Greek letter to identify them, so at the moment the whole force is limited to 24 vehicles. At present i have the following constructed or completed:

6 x Repressors (2 unfinished) - Designations: Lambda, Rho, Tau, Phi, Chi, Psi
3 x Immolators (2 unfinished) - Designations: Kappa, Mu, Nu
2 x Rhinos - Designations: Eta, Upsilon
3 x Exorcists - Designations: Gamma, Delta, Iota
2 x Hellhounds - Designations: Zeta, Sigma
1 x Leman Russ Demolisher - Designation: Theta
1 x Leman Russ Punisher- Designation: Xi
1 x Storm Lord - Designation: Omega
1 x Malcador Infernus - Designation: Omnicron

So ive got 4 designation letters left to play with. At present i would love to have the following tanks in my army some where:
- Valdor Tank Hunter
- Macharius Omega
- Atlas Recovery Vehicle (Massive armoured Bulldozer conversion)
- Chimera - To act as a transport for a unit of Ogryns (ab-human pit-slaves)

Im not entirely sure which of these to give which designation (Alpha, Beta, Pi and Epsilon remain) - Im thinking Alpha for the Macharius Omega (mainly because having a tank called "The Beginning and the End" appeals somewhat! But suggestions of what to call the others would be nice, and even if i should include the Bulldozer in this designation as it'll be painted very differently (more like my penitent engines/heavy demo servitors). If i dont go for this designation, then what tank should i use the remaining letter for instead?

Anyway on to more modelling progress. Ive got further with my first few pit slaves. Infact i used a squad of them in a game last night (3x crusaders and 6 x arcos) They didnt do much except divert a lot of firepower and finish the last marine off in a squad on an objective.

So here they are so far. they still need a bit of green-stuff work to fill in gaps and make the joints look a bit more realistic.But im happy with them so far, and ive got another 28 bodies to convert up to play with more ideas:

Parts to play with:








And then some "Crusaders". I need to think up a decent excuse for why a pit slave would be using a massive shield and a sword/cutting blade....:




Sorry for the stupid amount of pictures, but im really excited about the possibilities with these models. Im really going to try and stretch my imagination for how they can be equipped. So as always suggestions are really welcome

Stuff is continuing to look great! Nice use of those old Goliaths.

Thanks! I drunkenly bought a Job lot of them on eBay a year or two ago, ive been waiting to use them for something decent.

Wow. That is excellent work. I really like the barricade, but the mini-dio you did w/ the 'exploding' support pillar was excellent.

Subbed.

What an amazing blog!! I love your work, which to me has captured a lot of the soul of Warhammer 40k.

Cannot wait to see more!

@ Migsula - thanks! that means a lot, i love you Aplha Legion work. So much so that in the background i am gearing up to start a Horus Herest Alpha Legion army myself.

@Skalk - Thanks, i was really chuffed with how that came out, cant wait to get stuck into the contest now.

talking of which...a quick plug.

I will be starting (shortly) a contest entry for a Linear/barricade/junk-pile making contest which is being held over on the below thread:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/1350/403974.page

Full rules are found on that page near the bottom.

Ill be scouring the floor for bits and pieces to include in my entry this week.

Ive had a bit of lull in my hobby activity recently due to a massive amount of work falling on my plate that has meant ive been away from home, but what time ive grabbed and this weekend has meant ive produced a few bits.

They are a slight departure from my SoB, ive been wanting to start them for a while now, and finally i broke and jumped right in:

My first 6 Tactical marines for my Alpha 30k Army:


a few detail shots:



My first Seeker squad sergeant:



and my first Recon squad (in recon armour) Sergeant:



I really really like the Forgeworld infantry kits, the amount of bits you can get for them and the customisation possibilities are great. So far ive got built 1 x 10 man tac squad, 1 x 10 man seeker squad, 1 x 5 man sniper Recon squad and 2 x 7 man BP+CC Recon squads. All the recon squads are in recon armour using the plastic scouts as the base model.

Nice weathering and overall design. Not sure, why, but it reminds me of the RT days.

Ill take that as a compliment, they are pre-heresy/heresy in action era, so looking like RT days isnt a bad thing at all!

I should really get on with my Junk-pile now. hopefully ill have a quick update on it tomorrow

Heres a bit more Alpha Legion progress. Im getting ready to take part in a mini 30k Escalation campaign starting in the new year. You start with a Centurion with up to 25pts of wargear (no consul upgrades) and then a minimum of 1 Troops choice and a total of 500pts for the force. There are a few restrictions on vehicles to, making a predator the toughest you can take to start off.

My list starts with this:

Centurion with Charnabal Sabre, bolter with Banestrike Bolts and melta-bombs

10 Man Tactical Squad with extra CCW, and a sergeant with a Heavy Chainsword and Melta-bombs

7 Man Recon support squad with BP+CCW, Melta-bombs and Cameleoline, sergeant has a power fist and all are wearing recon armour

This gives me 2 scoring units and enough ability to deal with vehicles.

After a few weeks we add in another 500pts, and in between the Centurion can gain extra skills/equipment depending on how battles go with the army. Cant wait to get stuck in. Heres the completed force ready to go:

Centurion:


Tactical Squad:


Recon Squad:


Whole Force:


Im really happy with how these have come out and have got another chunk ready to paint for the next 500pt installation including a Seeker Squad, and more recon marines.

Wow, those Alpha Legionnaires look great! Really impressive paint job!

Those guys look dope, Scrunty!

 scrunty wrote:
Ill take that as a compliment, they are pre-heresy/heresy in action era, so looking like RT days isnt a bad thing at all!

It is an absolute compliment. RT miniatures are what I started with and no matter how cool the new models are they will never feel the same way as the RT do.

Your new work is excellent, though all the shaved heads reminds me of a line I am quite fond of (pertinent part is 0:20 to 0:34





Ha.

Wow, these are all fantastic, I adore the look of your sisters and those Alpha Legion are fab!

So due to a large amount of work and getting a little too involved in my Alpha Legion project i didnt manage to get my entry for the Junk pile contest sorted out. Ive got all the bits i collected on my desk and ill get around to making the piece sometime soon, but at present i am far to involved with my legion work. So here is the latest:

heres my completed seeker squad:


and a few detail shots - Ive tried to get the impression that they have been masquerading as imperial fists recently and havent managed to remove all the paint before they have been moved onto their next engagement, hopefully ive pulled this off, but im going to get a bit more practice soon as im starting out another squad who may have been playing around as Ultramarines:

I really like the color scheme and the bases, everything looks gritty and hard-bitten. 100% battle worn and ready for more.

This thread has some absolutely amazing work. I love the amount of time and detail you put into all of your models. Those sisters are amazing!
I am definitely subbed!

Very nice I wish I had the modelling skills and the time to convert wonderful army like this as I have so many ideas in my head. Looking very good though and looking forward to see more.

Young Logan

I haven't had the time recently to put up a post here, but i have been getting on with my painting. Also im trying to sort out a massive 10000pt apocalypse game against a friend who plays Black Templars and it has inspiring me to get back into finishing my SoB army. Also im looking at making a load of pieces from stronghold assault, it has copped some flak so far, but i really like the rules (except the D-Weapons bit).

Anyway onto pictures. I managed to finish my 3000pt army, here are some pictures of the last bits ive finished:

To start here is my 2nd squad of seekers, i went a bit further than the last squad with regards to making them Imperail legion/Alpha Fists, im pretty happy with them. What you cant see in these photos is that where the Imperial fist logo covers an alpha legion one there is a UV version of the Alpha Legion symbol on top (its really difficult to photograph properly but there are some photos later):


Here are my Destroyers (They look bland but there is a lot of UV symbols and patterns on there). I wanted to make them look nice and stealthy in lieu of having an actually Alpha Legion specific stealth squad (bring on Horus Heresy Book 3!):


My Terminators:


Here are my finished HQ choices - Moritat, Praetor and Vigilator:


Here is my Sicaran Battle Tank - All the Alpha Legion symbology is drawn in UV Pen also:







And just because the model is cool and the rules (at the moment anyway) are lovely:



and then a Javelin to do some fast tank hunting:



So with my Alpha legion fix sated until they get rules/models for their Primarchs and specialist units, ill move back onto my SoB/IG force. Firstly i got everything out to take stock of what ive got and what i need to get finished:

My IG Force:


The Whole SoB Force:


Hopefully in the next fews days ill get some progress done on my Promethium Relay Pipes and Void Shield generators. The plan is to make a mould of the pipes so i can churn out a fews sets. Also im going to use the massive bag of resin sprue left over from my Alpha Legion to make tank traps and barricades.

Ive got on with making some Obstacles to go with my fortifications, so far ive got 4 lengths of barricades (previously made) and now ive constructed 11 lengths of tangle/razor wire. Ill get them primed and start painting them soon enough:

Barricades:


Tangle Wire:


Next up is constructing a few sets of tank traps from Forgeworld sprue cut-offs, to save hard work ill be going down to my garage where the band saw and belt sander are... more pics to follow later on.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
and here are my first lot of tank traps:


C&C always welcome, hopefully im going to pumping these out over the next few days

Brilliant work here, I love a good sisters army. I have paint scheme-envy.. the urban camo is.. inspired.

Thanks! always nice to hear praise. The Paint scheme actually started as a Pre-Heresy Deathguard scheme on a single emperors Champion model ive still got on my desk. I never got around to making the Pre-heresy army but i liked the scheme too much not to use it.

Now back to scenery/fortification progress, here are my first finished batch of Tangle wire and Tank traps, a total of about 90 inches of obstacles to fill my deployment zone, ready to go:



Eagle eyed viewers will see another 4 sets of tank traps and a barricade strip in the back of the photo. Ive still got a long way to go until what i want made is complete - The wish list stands at 14 x 6" of barricades, 23 x 6" of tangle wire and 17 x 6" of tank traps. It'll be a long slog but hopefully it will be worth it when i get to fill a deployment zone at Warhammer world with a mixture of fortifications, tanks and a butt load of infantry in a few months time.

Holy caught in the tangle wire Batman! That a lot of wire, but looks nice and weather very well. Nice job there.

Ha! Yeah it is a lot but when looking through the stronghold assault rules you can see that you can fit a huge amount of this stuff in an army list without much effort. Can wait to field it in a battle, hopefully will have one tonight, I grab some pictures if I do

After a bit of a lull due to moving house i have treated myself to a new model, and ill be converting it up over the next few days/weeks, heres the first bit with the initial minor conversions, can you guess what it is yet?:



Really looking forward to getting really stuck into this model, so many possibilities

After an evening's work on my latest creation ive got a few steps further. Im really enjoying this kit, there is so much potential and so much detail to be played with. Hopefully the final model will live up to the image i have in my head of it:

The Legs, posed and re-positioned:


The Legs with a bit of armour, detail to be added once the greenstuff cures:


I need to add rivets and damage to these, im thinking about adding a cage/protection to the hydraulic rams on the back of the legs, something like a see-through mesh, but not sure at the moment. I would have to be added after painting.

The first of the two arms - a buzz-saw/rock-saw/excavation tool/death-mincer:


This has an extra pivot in it and at present isnt fixed in a position, eventually once ive worked out what i want to do with the base ill fix it in place to add to the drama of the scene.

Not content with one new big kit to play with, ive got myself another, this time for my Alpha Legion - a Fire Raptor. The model is, IMHO, the best looking marine flyer so far. Ive put it together and cannot wait to get it onto the table later this evening, its a beast (with current rules):

Here is it built, but the base is unfinished:

The idea is to have a plume of thick smoke rising from the wrecked rhino to cover the majority of the flight stand, ill curve the plume to make it look like the path of the raptor is distorting it.

And here is a bit of progress on my Construction-Bot:




The majority of the major construction is done, but the shoulder armour isnt fixed at present as im not convinced by it. Im thinking that more angular armour might look better and tie it in nicely with my Heavy demolition servitors (contemptor/penitent engines). Im also not finished with the digger/grab arm as i want to add a bit of bulk and cabling to add to the level of detail and fill in some voids.

C&C always welcome and if there are any suggestions on the shoulders etc im more than happy to hear them

I don't know which of those two makes be happier! I hate flight stands, always try to hide or incorporate them. How are you going to do the smoke? I found expanding insulation foam works well, used for just this purpose (well, storm raven base, but still )

I love the conversion work on the construction bot, can't wait to see it finished.

Thanks! Hopefully I'll get the rest of the build complete in the next week or so.

For the smoke I'm planning on using wire wool, and I'm contemplating putting a flickering LED in the rhino to simulate flames....not sure if it'll look decent or not though

Now i need opinions, here is the latest version of the Construction-Bot with different shoulders. Are these a good thing or a bad thing?:

I like how it adds more blocky-ness and bulks him out, but I'm not sure about that asymmetrical point that comes down. Seems a bit too anime or Gundam for my tastes.

Thats fair enough, im not completely convince myself yet. The reason its like that is purely to do with the bits i had (a load of storm raven left overs from making the fire raptor). Ill see where the styling of the other bits of armour and arms goes then see if i want to square those points off a bit. It is pretty gundam at the moment

 Moltar wrote:
I like how it adds more blocky-ness and bulks him out, but I'm not sure about that asymmetrical point that comes down. Seems a bit too anime or Gundam for my tastes.

I agree. It seems to heavy on its right side, like it would fall over from a glancing hit. It may be because the larger weapon (the dozer) and the weapon are both on the same side. Maybe move the weapon over to the left arm and have a combination gun/saw blade weapon, like the heresy chain blades on bolters?

I can see what you mean about the lop-sidedness of it, but there is no way im moving that gun now as there are a million (a slight exaggeration) green stuff cables running out of the back of it now. I think ill have to bulk the beast up a bit more on the other side to even it out, and possible bulk the legs up a bit as it will start to look top heavy.....at this rate it'll end up the size of a warhound!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ive been playing around with the pose a little and have come up with this one. Its nice and dynamic, a bit manic, and shows off its weapons. Im trying to tell a story about this beast, something like it was buried and long forgotten, but recently has been rediscovered and brought back into use. The current pilot doesnt know much about the finesse of original digging/construction robot and is now happy to smash things instead!:

What do you think?

Ive had a bit of modelling time today, so i cracked on with starting to put some paint on the constructo-bot/Super heavy demo-servitor. Its very basic so faar but i want the whole model to fit in nicely with my other models, so at present it is pretty stark looking, sorry about the glare etc on the photo:



I also got a peek at the new Horus Heresy Book and the Alpha legion rules look great and i cannot wait to get stuck into making some new models and testing how they perform. As a result i kit bashed a version of Armillus Dynat, an Alpha Legion named captain who runs around with a thunder hammer, power sword , a phosphex bomb and no gun! Heres my effort:




Then while making this model i watched the Grand National (big horse race in the UK) and ended up with one of my backed horse winning! So with the winnings i nipped into town and picked up a few bits and pieces and went into my local GW and had a chat with the manager. He showed me a couple of conversions he had done for his 30k Ultramarines using the GW finecast masters of.... models from the C:SM range. I had completely forgotten these models existed, so i had a look through them and bought a master of relics to convert into an Alpha Legion Saboteur (a new consul type for the centurion HQ choice). Here are my converted efforts:




Ive also put some paint on the fireraptor but only primer and base coat of blue over the whole model so i didnt think it was worth a picture.

Hopefully ill have another update pretty soon with some more detail on the Demolition Servitor of doom

I'm away from my panting desk this week on work and as I can't actually put anymore paint on my constructo-bot my mind is starting to stray to other projects. I've got two models I'm going to try and have a good stab at making in the near future in advance of forgeworld making their own versions.

The two characters I want to make are: Exodus - an alpha legion assassin/sniper special character, and Alpharius - doesn't really need much of an introduction!

So I'm need to compile a bits list to make them, here's what I've got so far:

Exodus -
- Recon marine kneeling body. (For the cloak and the pose
- master of signal head (for the fancy bionics/optics)

Now I need to find a suitably ornate sniper rifle esque weapon called "the instrument" as his main gun. I kind oflike the idea of having something that is xenos or ridiculously ancient I origin.

On top of this I need to be able to show that the man is a survivior , representing his IWND rule,


And then onto Alpharius. I'm really struggling where to start at the moment. Here is the list of iconic bits I need to represent:
- ornate primarch sized armour covered in scales/hydra imagery. I'm thinking something not too bulky, possibly using bits from the dark elf range...?
- an ornate looking spear of ancient design with a ethereal-esque blade, think something like a c'tan phase knife/sword
- a suitably large helmet with barbute stylings and evidence of very high tech comms equipment.
- a master crafted plasma blaster
- probably a cloak of scales that when painted would look translucent.


So where do I start? My sculpting skills are OK, and I'm happy to give things a go. But what do I use as the skeleton/base for the bulk of the model?

Thanks for any help in advance

Off the top of me 'ead:

Exodus: well, what about the master engineer's rifle?

99% sure I have one somewhere.
You could indicate he's a survivor by using really ancient armour: Mk3 or such?

Alpharius:
Chapterhouse bits maybe?
Pads
http://chapterhousestudios.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=85_86&product_id=244
Power Fist
http://chapterhousestudios.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=85_113_121&product_id=183
Shield
http://chapterhousestudios.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=85_114&product_id=180

Kromlech have some nice melee weapons, eg:
http://bitsofwar.com/home/17-stygian-two-handed-weapons.html

For cape, I'd either use Vulkan Hestan or maybe Slaan bits? Or use the one from Sammael and sculpt scales on to it?

Oh, and a proper crazy idea: use an Eldar Avatar for the body, and use dreadnought bits for the armour. Hey, comes with a spear, too

Nice! I like the rifle, i think its a nice place to start, make it a bit more hi-tech looking and i reckon it could work. Im thinking i go for MK IV armour as its the most hi-tech and as an uber-assassin i think it would fit the bill.

The shield is definitely the kind of texture/design im going to look to get on alpharius' armour. The flow of Vulkan's cloak is nice but id prefer to stick to the shield-shaped scales rather than the hexagonal ones. In fact looking at the Sammael cloak, that looks the perfect template to build on.

Ive been looking at 54mm scale models for the base for Alpharius and the one below is interesting me, its a nice neutral pose, which is how i see Alpharius, hes not going to be charging in like a nutter or jumping through the air, and the musculature/armour is bulky enough to imply primarch but not so bulky to start looking slow/gawky. It reminds me quite a bit of the Lorgar model.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Yedharo-Models-War-of-the-Zodiac-Cancer-figure-54mm-/00/s/MTYwMFgxMzQ4/z/XVwAAOxyOlhS-1aW/$_58.JPG

I forgot to post this PIC the other day. After I finished the saboteur I found lokens cloak knocking around and bought i could use it to add some dynamism to the saboteur model, so after a bit of suck it and see work with cutting the cloak in half I managed to position it in a way that, I feel, makes he model much more of a rounded/finished article.



Thoughts?

Love this thread thank you.

Thanks! Always nice to hear people like what I'm doing! Soon enough I should be able to start really getting stuck into the hobby and churn out some more models and finish some of the projects I've got going on, but real life issues are really trying to hold me back at the moment!

I ordered a few little forgeworl bits on ebay and as they arrived yesterday so i squeezed some hobby time in and have made my version of Exodus, the Alpha Legion Assassin. Im pretty happy with it:

S-weet! and I admire anyone who treats fw as a bits merchant

Ha! There are just too many nice FW bits not to play around converting things with. Just wish you could get hold of some of the primarch bits for less than the price of a small house!

I've ordered the basis for Alpharius now, as in the link in the above post, hopeffuly should be here early next week.....then the big task starts.

Well I've had a bit of time in the last few days to get some painting done, so I've cracked on with painting the 3 new characters for my aloha legion and once they are finished I'll post some pics up (shouldn't be too long now).

I have also started fleshing out the painting on my constructo-bot/super heavy serivtor. I've very nearly finished painting the main carapace/beetle back bit. I'm pretty happy with it, just a few touch ups to do and some weathering powders to add in strategic places. See what you think:

Delightfully crusty great job, very stripey.

Looks great so far, but reminds me a lot of the iron warriors' hazard stripes.

Very nice paint work.

Wow, that armor is amazing. The damage on there is perfect: not too much, but enough that makes it look like it's walked through a warzone destroying things. Love it!

Very quick update, ive managed to get some time to paint the rest of the constructo-bot/destructo-bot, here are some shots:







Ive got the base to go and then just a few touches i noticed while faffing around with it this afternoon.

Also managed to get some base colours on my AL fire raptor, and have finished the cockpit/pilot:






As always C&C is very welcome. And if anyone has any particular wishes as to what to see being destroyed on the Constucto-bots base then let me know, as at the moment im drawing a blank beyond its got to tie in with the whole SoB base theme.

Fantastic stuff as always! Great to see someone else who hates flight stands as much as me love the interior osl. Construct bot should be taking down something heretical. Maybe a false idol?

Thanks! Flight stands just look naff, especially the little ones you get with skimmers and jet bikes, can't stand them. Any way of not using them, or hiding is so much better. Also I'm a sucker for using all the available space on a base to tell a better story, the flight stem is just more canvas to play with.

Yeah . This is for my avenger:

Love the over-the-top ness of that flight stand! Really need to get myself an avenger for my SoB, I'm slowly coming over to the fact fliers have their uses. The fire raptor has converted me. Its a beast in game

The avenger's fun, I built mine out of a dark talon (I'd post a pic but I'm loathe to thread jack!) - complex but satisfying build, and after the nightmare of a Storm Eagle I'm loathe to get another fw flyer.

I think I saw it and I remember being impressed. I've heard bad things about the storm eagle, but the fire raptor was pretty easy to put together, I recommend using brute force and lots of metal pins ( I use copper wire) to force resin into shape. But saying that I didn't have to do much of that at all for the raptor. I fancy a storm eagle though.

A friend has a couple of caestus assault rams and has now got two thunderhawks and he said that they are almost too simple to put together for the price. When you pay £400 for a model you want to get a lot of fun out of building it. it only took him 4hrs to put the hawk together including cleaning.

After getting the new HH rules though I really need to get a load more tac marines and rhinos to take advantage of the AL rite of war, before I get any fancy fliers!

I've been really busy with work recently so I've not managed to get much time to crack on with my hobby stuff. So this isn't a massive update just a progress report.

Firstly I've been having a go at a massive freehand piece on the fire raptor - a 3-headed hydra with one head on the top and the other two wrapped around the sides. Here is where its at so far (I'm happy enough with it so far):


I've also finished(bar varnishing) the base for the fire raptor:


Generally when I can't get much time for painting/modelling I'll end up scouring eBay for bargains, recently has not been an exception to that! I managed to pick up two, hardly played with, Contemptor dreads for about the price of 1 new one. They only had two power fists arms between them, but as I wanted to give then volkite Culverins (and fw doesn't make then yet), I set about making my own from the heavy weapon squad guns and a bit of green stuff. Here's the results:



I also gave them both chainfists, and converted them myself, as I think the new fw chainfists is a rare bad/uninspiring part/model from them.

As always c&c are appreciated.

I'm not quite sure about the running pose for the Contemptor. Seems like its going to fall over to the right. IDK there is just something that's just off about it.

hey mate! Some great work going on here..... that "Constructo Bot" is a BEAST!! Love the saw arm also!

And the Alpha Legion Captain is sweet!

Maybe a little it of torso rotation would help the contemptor?! I think i am right in saying... when you run..... when the left leg is forward... the right sholder should be forward..... left arm back etc..... torso twist right sholder forward........ might help!

Subbed!

Thanks for the compliments! I hopefully should be getting some more time to play with my toy soldiers pretty soon, also its my 30th birthday in a week and I'm off to WW tomorrow to go pick out some presents.

Now you mention it about the Contemptor it does look a little off balance, I'll have a mess around with it and see it I can alter it. Unfortunately that one was already stuck together ( torso, hips and shoulders) when I bought it, so it might be a pain to sort out, but I'll have a go and post the results.

Lovely freehand, kudos.

Ive just realised that i didnt post any photos of my new Alpha Legion characters with some paint on. They have a few tweeks to do, and ive got to build up the courage to tackle Armillus' head tattoo, but they are almost complete:

Armillus Dynat:




Saboteur Consul:



Exodus:




Sorry about the Green-ness to these photos, not sure what possessed me to stand them on that green box... Ill sort out some clear photos when its light.....and ive got the time.....

C&C always welcom

Wow, that is some impressive freehand on the flier. I hope you take some more pictures of it. I want a closer look!

Thanks! Ill get some more photos up of the fire raptor once its finished (its next on my list of things to finish painting).

On yesterday it was 30th birthday so i have been thoroughly spoilt by my nearest and dearest. Ive acquired a few new bits for my Alpha legion and had the day off to get them built. So ive now got a Storm eagle, 5 tartoros termies and 5 "Templar Brethren".

The Templar Brethren are built from basic MkIII marines with a mix of MkIV weapons with empire shields. Ive really happy with them, they look suitably elite while having a nice air of templar/piousness to them. They will fit into my Alpha legion army as my unit nicked from another legion. So they will be painted up in full Imperial fist marking with only very subtle Alpha Legion hints. Here are the first WIP shots of them after construction:






So what do you think?

Ive now got everything i need to make my full 3500pt Alpha legion list. Cant wait to get it complete and on the board.

The list looks roughly like this:

- Armillus Dynat
- Exodus
- Saboteur Consul
- 9 x terminators with 6 x pairs of lightning claws
- 5 x Destroyers with jump packs
- 2 x contemptor dreadnoughts with chainfists and volkite culverins
- 3 x 10 Man Tac squads with extra CCWs
- 10 x Headhunters
- Javelin Landspeeder with lascannon and MM
- Storm eagle gunship
- Sicaran Battle Tank
- Sicaran Venator

I think it gives a nice mix of anti-troops and anti-tank. Also im going to use the rite of war and give all my infantry infiltrate to give a good mix of outflanking and infiltrating units. That combined with the punch of a storm eagle laden with termies or the templar brethen and Dynat should cause enough panic!


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Oh I forgot to say that I am looking for ideas to hide the flying stand on the storm eagle, something along the lines of the smoke plume from a knackered rhino I did with my fire raptor, but different!

Insanely impressive stuff, so much great stiff I'll call it all amazing :-)

Almost like impirial orks. :-)

Thanks! Ite really nice to hear people like my work.

Im cracking on with getting my current unfinished projects done, while getting on with putting the base colours on my birthday pressies.

Here are some detail shots of the finished fire raptor, im happy with it, but i still need to do more practice with the free hand aspects of it. Im trying to push myself at the moment and get the standard up some more:

Ive got a fair bit of hobby progress in, in the last few days. Ive got some base colours on my Contemptors, my new Tartorus termies and on my Templar Brethren, but none of them are very interesting at the moment so ill leave off posting pictures until they are a bit further down the line.

I have also finally started a bit of a special project for my AL. Alpharius is go! ive made a start ona few bits so far including his helmet, torso, right arm/shoulder and the Pale Spear, Here's the progress so far:

The Pale Spear -

Its made from a couple of necron bits, a dark eldar scourge double ended glaive and a couple of FW charnabal sabre blades.

All the bits so far:


And the rough pose that they will fit together (ish):


Any thoughts are always welcome, and any suggestions as to where i start with the legs will be greatfully received as its the only part of the model i have to completely guess at from the current HH imagery.

So far looking great and love where you are going with this! I would consider extended normal terminator legs as a starting point.

Yeah i think thats where im going to start, i think i want to go for a more slender/svelte legs, more like Angrons or Lorgars rather than the terminator thickness legs of Horus or Ferrus.

Anyway i got a bit more work done today and here are the results:





Ive re-done the shoulder and sculpted the scales rather than cut them out of foil, its a much better 3D shape to it, so i think that's how ill proceed with any more scales. Next in line is the hips...probably

Your Alpharious is fan freaking tastic! Cant wait to see him done!

My Hobby progression is really getting some pace up this week. Ive managed to get a few more hours into the Alpharius sculp, ive put some more paint on my two contemptors, which are now going to be known as the twins, they are about 95% finished now. Ive also managed to really crack on with my Tartoros termies and they are probably 80% complete now Finally ive progressed with my templar brethren to the point im happy to post a WIP shot. Hope you enjoy:

Alpharius Upper half:-

I need to do a load of work on the arms to get some detail in there and fill the gaps/blank bits. I also need to work out what im going to put around his waist, either a belt or a groing plate or a flowing loin cloth, i cant decide at the moment. Help!!

The Twins:-
Twin A

Twin O

The arms (except the outstretched power fist) are all magnetised to i can have two dreads with volkite culverin and chainfist or 1 dread with two volkites and 1 with two chainfists. I need to play around with the dust weathering on their feet to get it right and then need to hit the whole lot with some matt varnish to get rid of some of the shine and help blend away the blotchy-patchyness that is evident in a couple of places.

Terminators:-

I have always loved lightning claws, in my head they are the iconic weapon of 40k (sod the bolter!) hence i have 6 pairs in this squad. Mainly this squad will run as a 9 man team in a storm eagle with Armillus Dynat at the front.....or leaving a gap for a certain mysterious figure to arrive later on.

Tempalr Brethren:-

Im really happy with how thes are coming out. Ive got the imperial fist logos to do and script to put on the parchment. Also i need to work out a way of subtly showing that they are infact alpha legion. Ive already painted the eyes on the two with helmets the same colour (purple) as the rest of my legion, and ill paint the helmet-less eyes green as i have any other helmet-less heads, but i need ideas on what more i could do to help

Ive just about finished constructing Alpharius - Im generally happy with how its gone, the proportions are perfect (his thighs are too short and hes a bit too tall overall), but im happy with it considering its the first time ive attempted and completed a full sculpt/scratch build of a non-vehicle. Ive also gone and made a display base for him to ape the FW primarchs. Its nothing too amazing, but hopefully it boosts the whole model. See what you think:




and a comparison shot with Angron to show scale:


Ill get it primed in the next day or so and start putting a bit of paint on it, not sure exactly how im going to tackle his colour scheme though.

That's some mad skillz you have there...

A bit more progress this week as im "working" from home! Ive stuck the first licks of paint on Alpharius, and im happy enough so far, im not a great fan of painting metallics, but this hasnt turned out too bad so far....there is always time to mess it up though! : -


Ive also put together some 7th edition objective markers for my Alpha legion, very basic just made with some Das clay and a few 40mm round bases, although not enough hence only going up to 4 not 6! They aren t quite finished but will be shortly: -


And finally ive managed to start the base for my construto-bot/super-heavy demolition servitor. Ive gone for something suitably urban-decay-ish with evidence of recent smashing:-

Some absolute crazy skills on show here! Alpharius is brilliant! One of my top fav primarch's and you really have done him justice! The Helmet / Hyrda detail is a real highlight!

Ive managed to finish Alpharius, but i havent got pictures of the finished article. Im happy with how he looks but still cant wait to see what Forgeworld do with him. Ill get pictures up soon.

In the mean time i got my first battle in using him yesterday. a 3500pt game vs iron hands. I used the AL rite of war combined with Alpharius' and Dynat's abilities to as good effect as possible, but the iron hand force was formidable : 2 land raider proteus', 1 Spartan, 2 predator executioners, 1 contemptor mortis, and a felblade driven by the Iron hands special character making it hes warlord and BS5 (a really pain). Anyway to cut a long story short the battle was bloody, and right from the get go (my opponent seized the initiative) it was painful for me. His shooting phase never seemed to end. With a combination of outflanking, infiltrating and generally being stealthy/sneaky i managed to whittle down his force and at the end i snuck a victory on objectives by a total of 12pts to 8. It was a brilliant battle with my highlight being my Templar brethren sergeant single handedly charging and taking down an entire Tactical squad with apothecary.

After the battle ive taken a few points away that i want to work on. The AL work best (in my opinion) when you are just shoving as many targets and threats down the throat of your opponent (i really think FW have done a great job in showing the fluff of the AL in their rules). So im thinking i want to make a few more "threats" to pose to my enemies. For one i want to have some dedicated transports for my troops, so rhinos are looking like they are needed (especially if i give them infiltrate or scout). Also ive been looking at the rules/points cost of basic land speeders and they look great for their cost, also with deepstrike they fit in nicely with the AL rite of war, so they go on the "to-make" list. Another is getting a transport for my terminators other than my storm eagle, as id rather use the fast attack spot for something else and have a unit of recon marines using the eagle as a ded-transport instead. Also im thinking about attack bikes; quick, agile and tough tank busters can always be useful.

So with this in mind i started trawling eBay looking for bargains when i remembered that i had bought a load of beaten up marine bits a while ago. I went rummaging for them and found them in a pretty bad state covered in the remnants of fairy power spray (or equivalent). I also dug up a load of old MK I rhinos that i bought as part of a SoB lot.

Here are the pictures of how the bits look at the moment, ive got lots of work to do!:

The rhinos: - How do people suggest i make them bigger to make them fit in better with the size of FW rhinos?


The Speeders: - all the bits are there but they are knackered, again lots of work to do and addition of HH marine parts and weapons to tie them to the rest of the army:


The raider: - Again all the bits there but they are knackered. Ill have to work out what type of raider i want it to be, possible an achilles, but most likely just the bog-standard one:


All help, suggestions and links to useful articles are welcome as i have my work cut out here!

Ive managed to get a shed load of hobby work done in the last couple of weeks, ive been away from home with work but have taken my stuff with me to work on in the evenings in the hotel. So aside from odd looks from hotel staff when i bring boxes of crap into my rooms, and possibly people wondering why the corridor smells of polystyrene cement, ive cracked along to get s#my whole 5000pt force ready for a big HH whole day event in Burton-upon-Trent later this month (20th).

Here are shots of my progress:

My refurbishment of the landspeeders i found turned into what im calling, Alpha pattern land speeders. Each armed with a graviton gun and volkite culverin for a mixture of troop and tank killing capability:




And here is my progress on making the old Mk I rhinos into the right size to compete alongside the current FW HH rhinos:

The second shows the size differences of the 3 rhino chassis i now have, my version is just slightly taller and longer (the dozer blade makes it look a lot bigger than it actually is), but both dwarf the original on the right.

Im not entirely sure if this was worth doing, its time consuming and so far the finish is no where near what i want it to be. But at present i cant afford to splash out on three new rhinos and thats how many i need finished by 20th July. So ill be cutting up another two old ones and making them up this way. Ill take more photos of the construction to show how its done, here is a pic of the pieces i need to cut out of plasticard to make the other rhinos:


there are loads and they dont include a few other bits that need different thicknesses.

Anyway C&C always welcome and ill have more updates soon as ive just received 4 very cheap attack bikes that are going to be 30k'ed and added to the legion.

A couple of weeks ago i took part in a large 30k Apoc game. I think it ended up with 20,000pts per side, loyalists vs traitors. I chose to fight on the traitors side and i got all my stuff painted and finished ready to play. I brought 5000pts myself, and here are the pictures of the army as it stood:

Alpharius: - He is brutal in a large game where his army wide rules add so much.


Dynat and my Vigilator: - These stuck with my titan killing death star (more to follow)


Exodus and some Snipers: - These didnt do much to be honest, but they are very alpha legion so i had to include them


My Titan Killers (Scout armoured Recon marines) in their dedicated transport: - These (combined with Dynat) killed a warhound titan in one turn of combat. Absolutely brutal for taking out superheavies


My heavy support: - All held up their own, especially the venator which was happily taking out a contemptor a turn until it was eventually taken out


My Tactical Squads: - All were still on the table at the end of the game and all were scoring objectives, i lost one rhino however



My Fast Attack Choices: - The Headhunters took out two seperate tactical support squads and half a tactical squad. The javelin took out a malacador tank, and the land speeders deep struck and blew up a Knight!


My Elites: - The Contemptors took a shed load of fire and died without doing much damage, the terminators killed an Imperial fist command squad and its Praetor and the templar Brethren did absolutely nothing (but they survived the battle unscathed)!


The Whole Force: Im really happy with the force as a whole, its come together nicely. Ive got a few little bits to finish (10 more marines, 4 attack bikes and a land raider proteus), but im going to wind down messing with this army until the official models from FW come out for the Alpha Legion specialists.


And some extras: - Objective markers, Wrecked vehicle markers and graviton field markers


So now with the army almost finished i think im going to start doing a bit more work on my SoB, well at least try and wade through some of the remaining unpainted troops i have left (i can feel an airbrush purchase coming on to make it easier!). Ill put up sporadic photos of my AL too, but hopefully this wont be all the hobby progress i get on with.

That's an amazing army! I love the infiltrator look you gave them with IF chipped paint job. Nice touch!
How did you achieved this btw? Did you paint the models blue then yellow, using masking fluid or something?

Thanks!

To get the effect I paint the blue to completion and then seal it with matt varnish. I then dab on yellow (its a couple of different colours) into places where the paint would likely stay such as around edges of rivets, panel gaps etc.

After its all dry I use a diluted nail varnish remover (usually 1:1, remover:water) applied with a brush to the edges of the yellow areas. This thins out the edges and softens them a bit to make them look more worn.

Finally I use a sponged weathered technique to get the very small darker chips on both the yellow and blue.

If I did it again from start I'd probably do a few things differently but I'm happy with how it all turned out.

I finally got around to finishing the base for my "constructo-bot" So here it is in all its finished glory:





Im really happy with how this model has turned out. I cant wait to field it along side its smaller siblings, the heavy demolition servitors (penitent engines).

In other news ive got a few ideas kicking around as how to convert up a suitably grand model to represent the head of the Vyner family (the head of the Hive city/world that my SoB and IG force inhabit). He'll be based upon the Inquisitor Karamazov rules, so expect a large mechanical walker type beast, plus retinue of advisers and bodyguards.

Wow, he looks great! Love the dirty paint job and the green eyes. I think the base helps balance the model out and give it a better feel.

Keep up the great work!

Fraytag93: Thanks! Im happy enough with the base, it does balance the model out, but i think it lacks some of the detail that other bases ive done before. I think thats a result of trying to rush it to show it off at a recent event, but im sure ill get back to it soon ish. (Its very very tempting to buy another knight kit and do something else completely different with it though)


Ive got around to some hobby time after a recent move in house. I cracked on with getting my Battle conclave stand-ins made up. Ive made a bunch of pit slaves from necromunda Goliath models and a large amount of random bits and pieces lying around. No two are identically equipped and im pretty happy with how the pretty basic conversions have worked. Ill try and get a lick of paint on them quite soon. Im thinking of trying out some tattoos and stubble effects on a few of them.

Each squad in game consists of 2 crusaders and 8 arco flagellents.

Let me know what you think of them:

To jump on the new dataslate bandwagon (and reignite my love of the Officio Assassinorum background) i dug around in my bits boxes determined to find all things assassin-y and luckily i must have bought a few of these models a while back and forgotten about them, problem was that they werent complete or not exactly what i wanted. So here is what ive done:

Firstly i wanted a Culexus model. As far i can tell their rules are lovely and will destroy psyker users, also at present you cant actually buy them from GW and the most recent sale of eBay of one went for double what they cost new, so to the bits box. I knew id never owned one, but i found an old Imperial Assassin model and set about converting it with a few bits of left overs from my Alpha Legion works and a couple of random eldar arms i had knocking around:


Im pretty pleased with him, hes got the elongated head with masses of wires and optics in place as well as the psyk-out grenades. Also he pose is a bit random, but i think it gives a slightly ethereal/odd look to the model which its 'Blank' nature would probably give off.

Now while rumaging i found an eversor body as well, unfortunately no bolt-pistol arm or backpack so i have to improvise. my assassin now has a bionic right arm and a non-standard scanning array, but i think he looks decent enough:


While looking i also found 2 callidus assassins, one of each sculpt. Luckily the single piece sculpt was in good nick and didnt require any work so she completes the trio, now i need to find a vindicare, and i have definitely owned one of them, but i cant for the life of my find it.


With the second callidus body (the seperate legs and torso sculpt) i have started a remake of my Iron-hand straken counts-as model. Im going to have to find both arms and work out what to use for the head/face oh and also find some feet, hopefully ill get through it shortly and put some picks up.

Now off to get some undercoat of these and get some suitably dark and dangerous looking scheme on them.

After a little bit of enforced time away from the hobby (fixing stuff in the house) ive managed to get a bit of paint on my three assassins, still a bit of work to do, mainly on the bases, but here they are:



The photos dont show the shading/highlighting on the synthskin suits and other areas, and so far im pretty happy with them. I really want the eyes of all of them to glow, especially the culexus

Anyway in another turn of events i realised i didnt have any models to represent inquisitors so ive knocked up one of each type and here are the results:

Ordo Malleus in terminator armour, with psycannon and nemesis dread hammer. (The shield is just to represent the invulnerable save from the termie armour and doesnt actually play any extra role in the rules):
[url=http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/651568-Ordo%20Malleus%20Inquisitor%20-%20WIP.html]
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Ordo Xenos in power armour, with conversion beamer and scythian venom talon:


Ordo Hereticus in carapace armour, with power fist and inferno pistol, hes pretty basic but im reasonably happy with him:


Im really happy with the malleus one, and all the details ive added to the xenos should make it a fun model to paint, the hereticus doesnt live up to the same level i think, but the equipment load out for him doesnt really give as much scope as the others. Ill be needing to make another 3 servo skulls so each can have 3 each.

C&C always welcome as are ideas for future developments and projects (not that i need more, but its always fun to have more ideas)

Awesome bro, consider me subbed

Thanks! Hopefully I'll be getting pretty regular up dates in the next couple of weeks. Got some time to myself without too much work getting in the way!

Its been a while since i made some terrain, and my pile of random empty packaging and materials its getting a bit large, so i figured id start doing some more scenery.

Im thinking of making some urban/hive world hills/line of site blocking terrain. So to start ive dug out some balsa wood and a massive bag of match sticks i didnt realise i had and ive knocked together some scale pallets. I can decide which one i like best:

The balsa pallet:


or the match stick pallet:


The match stick has more of the planked look, but is pretty rough (not necessarily a bad thing) The balsa plank was easier to put together...thoughts?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
So following an afternoon of making scenery heres what ive come up with:

More pallets (of various designs):


Stuff on pallets:


A massive pile of barrels (bought from an eBay shop and forgotten about until today!):


All my new terrain:


Im planning on making a bucket load more of the pallets and then start using them combined with other bits and bobs to make rudimentary hills. just need to get a few bits of board to act as bases for them first.

It seems like ive been painting all weekend, but ive managed to finish nothing! To be fair most of my painting time has been on the below, and although im happy with the finish it wasnt the most interesting or challenging painting task ive done!:


Painting the kitchen cupboard doors, because we've bought a house and cant afford to re-fit the kitchen, so a re-vamp is the next best thing!

Anyway back to all things hobby related. IVe got further in my scenery hit, just the oil washes and weathering pigments left to finish these now (and i dare not use the powders in the same room as the above cupboard door painting!):


And then on a sudden whim i decided to buy a copy of Space Hulk, in fact the last copy at my local gaming shop. Ive not had a copy of the current version before and ive only see photos of the models. I am blown away by the sculpts of all the models, they are fantastic and infact the terminator sculpts are so detailed that they are actually a tad intimidating. Anyway i cracked on with getting some base colours down on the genestealers:


Im going to build up the skin/chitin colours with various washes, the end goal is a dark glossy skin a-la Aliens, but with a bit of a purple tinge a-la tradition 40k stealers.

Ive also undercoated the terminators, and tried to darken down the red-oxide primer:

The idea is to have a very dark red armour colour throughout with dark copper metal trim. Ive never painted blood angels before and i fancy having a go at something a little less christmas red.

Finally ive got a couple of photos of a land raider proteus that i bought off eBay a little while ago for my Alpha Legion, it was painted up as an Emperors Children tank, but ive sprayed over than and soon enough ill get the rest of it finished.

Ive converted up an Exploratory Web kit to go on the tank as its the big failing of my Alpha Legion, they can never get their reserves on the table when they want/need them, hopefully this will help out.

Ill have more updates from the Assassins and Inquistors shortly, ive got to get at least 2 of the assassins finished before November as im going to a small tournament with them. Ill post a picture of my army up shortly to show the true nastiness that Sisters of Battle and their friends can field in 7th edition, which i love as it means i can really go to town on adding characters from the background of the hive world Imbros

As always C&C is welcome

A quick up date to say ive actually managed to finish something! My random spat of making scatter terrain is done for now, the barrels have come out nicely as have the palletised goods. Im going to keep the spare pallets for another project, they are finished but not attached to anything yet...

The Barrels:


The goods:


The Assassins are also finished and they have come alright, im not completely happy with the glowing effect of the eyes, but i think i just need more practice to get it right:
Eversor:

Callidus:

Culexus:


Ive got a game organised for wednesday this week, it'll be the first time ive been able to use the assassins with the new rules, hopefully they should be fun!

I think ill crack on with finishing the other bits of terrain ive made and then carry on with the genestealers.....probably....maybe

Ive finished a couple of bits of scenery, one i had started in my last couple of posts - a scrap barricade, and another i started thinking about ages ago and finally have got around to putting together - a electrical substation:

The barricade - Remarkably simple to paint. After spraying with red oxide primer and then a spritz of matt black i heavily dry=brushed with silver and then added a few spot colours. After this i finished it off with a mix of AK interactive weathering oils and then some weathering powders. Overall i think it must have only taken an hour to paint (not including drying time):


The Sub station - I made the pylons a little while back using some poster board, some washers and a few bits of plasti-card. The round generators/transformers are chewing gum tubs and then i added a scattering of detritus. Again painting was relatively simple. Just put an undercoat of rust colour on the metal areas, then a top colour (generally i use pastel shades or very contrasting colours to red/brown) and use waterdown acetone to get the rubbed off paint/rust effect. Finish with more AK weathering oils and powders and hey-presto a quick and effective (if i do say myself) paint job:


Ive also started painting my inquistors, just first colours and im not totally sure about them:

The Xenos (left) i wanted in an unusual and vibrant colour which i can then add grime to, but something that was obviously not a uniform and possibly influenced by alien tech. The hereticus i wanted something pious but posh looking so i went for catholic purple. Im not sure how that will turn out though....


The Malleus is in one of my favorites of dark red, with old gold and dark blue (which wont be glossy in the end). Im most happy with this scheme so far, but i cannot work out how to paint the shield. Its a nice flat surface which is begging for something interesting on it but i cannot work out what. Ideas???


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I thought i stick all my terrain down in one place to see what ive got done, so here it is!



Im pretty with how it all looks together, i imagine its not going to stay the same for long, ive got too many bits and pieces knocking around im not going to make into terrain.

Wow... that is a TON of terrain! I would love to have some of that at my FLGS

Interesting take on the different orders. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

@ Freytag - Cheers! its taken a while to get together, and ive got some other bits ready to paint now. Hopefully ill get something done with them soon.

Regarding the Inquisitors, ive finished the first one. My Female malleus in terminator armour with psycannon and daemon hammer is done:




Im pretty chuffed with her, its the first time ive used Agrellan Earth techincal paint, and i like the effect, i can see using more of it in the future. Im happy enough with the freehand aspects, some could be neater, but im not too worried about that. The overall look is what i wanted.

C&C always welcome

Ive finally achieved a small life goal this past weekend. I have bought and put up a set of display cabinets for my models. I wanted to do this but have not had the space in any house ive lived in until the wife and I bought our own house earlier this year. Now that they are set up and filled with some of my models i have realised i have a lot more models than i thought! The below picture shows the cabinets i got with all my 40/30k armies in, unfortunately my WFB armies are going to have to wait until i get another couple of cabinets before they can be displayed:



My Alpha legion and my Sisters Venatores:

My Imbros Irregulars(IG) and lesser spotted CSMeathguard:


Also ive got around to putting my last unit of Alpha legion together (until FW release AL specific kits). A second unit of Headhunters, here are 6 of the ten in total. Im still waiting for bolters from FW which ill add silencers to the barrels of:


Ive tried to make each unique and look like they have been on the move a lot, so lots of extra pouches and equipment on each. The cloaks are just for show and dont represent any wargear in game, but im going to paint them up in camo pattern of some type or another. Ive also tried to keep them completely wysiwig. Each model has a bolt pistol, power dagger, bolter(eventually) and grenades.

As always C&C always welcome

Mk4 rules every time ! I am ridiculously jealous of your cabinet of treasures

Very nice display. I wish I had the room to put up some display cabinets. Being in college, it's difficult to transport everything to and from school. Once I get my first real apartment, this is the first thing I'm doing!

I look forward to your next update

Thanks both of you. I was pretty impressed myself once it was all in the cabinets, then i thought about how much cash was sunk into the collection and i realised my hobby addiction is not a small one!

I will be getting a few more posts about my 30/40k dealing soon, but im being distracted by some WFB goings on at the moment, in fact ive started another P&M Blog about them here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/623260.page

Hopefully ill get around to painting up the last few bits of my AL force soon and then i can call them done. Ill update when i do though

Ive been busy working on my other WFB project recently so havent had much to do with 40/30k, but in the last couple of days i have managed to get a little bit of progress on my Land raider proteus with explorator web. I wasnt happy with how thick the paint layers were from its original paint job (it was second hand from ebay) covered with primer and then re-base coated. It was starting to obscure detail.

I had a real job getting the paint off as the metallic car spray i had used for the blue/green shade was very resilient to stripping. In the end i had to resort to chipping the paint off with various implements. Its left some scratches and a few bits of paint in place, but i think they will look good once its all weathered up.

Anyway ive chosen to paint this as a full blooded Imperial fist tank. Its for my unit of templar brethren to ride around in, who dont really have any outward signs of being Alpha legionnaires anyway, so i think it fits. Ill probably add a few touches of AL-ness to the tank, but t start here it is in its primed and then yellow-y goodness:

The black patches done:


The white undercoat done:


And then the base yellow added:


The yellow isnt as smooth as the camera makes out and there are a few mottled areas. Im going to go over the whole yellow areas with a couple of layers of yellow wash to really get the colour uniform. Then ill start distressing it.

Some more paint progress on my Land raider Proteus for my Templar Brethren. Im really happy so far with how the imperial fist colour scheme has gone. Its almost making me want to paint more yellow things!

Ive added some details to the tank to give a few subtle(and unsubtle) hints as to its Alpha Legion alignment, and ill be giving it some UV marking too, which will show its proper insignia to the full:





The model it now pretty much ready for weathering. Im going to go quite heavy of this part, i want this tank to look like it has had to fight its way out of a lot of trouble and hasnt been able to stop for a second to even clean the mud, dust and general debris from it.

Hopefully ill do it justice.

So swagy I cant handle how epic all of those conversions are.

It's so bright and glowy!

Thanks! I'm pretty damn happy with the yellow. The photo makes it seem even more vibrant, but its impressivy yellow if I do say myself!

Ive had a bit of a pre-christmas splurge on some more Alpha Legion models (its not my fault FW released the AL contemptor!) Although the contemptors ive ordered havent arrived yet (should be here any moment), i also bought some more normal MKIII marines from ebay, and they came with a few other bits. So i decided to make a 4th non-support unit troops choice and create a legion breacher squad. I wanted to go a little bit experimental with these, so ive decided to create power-field boarding shields.

I created a prototype and then cast it up to replicate it 10 times:


The one on the far end has masking tape on the back ready for priming.

Ive painted clear latex on all the outwards facing plastic so i can keep them crystal clear until i want to add effects to them.

Here are the shields on the breacher squad, all ready for priming


Ive gone for volkite chargers as the special weapon options due to having some around rather than any other particular reason. I thought about giving them graviton guns, but i want these to act as an assault unit and having heavy weapons in the squad screws that option.

Also in the lot i won of ebay (for about £35 total) was a event-only FW model. His hammer had been replaced with a paragon blade (which is now in my bits box) which i have replaced with a HH era thunder hammer.:


Also were parts of the MkIV command pack including the banner arm and a captain/standard bearer bodies and arms. Some of these bits are now part of the breacher squad, but i saved the banner man to act as my company standard when i get around to making a unit for them:

I added a couple of subtle AL symbology bits in to make it a little different.

As well as doing these bits of modelling, ive gone back to my Legion Javeling speeder and added a couple of hunter killer missiles:

These may be a little big, but they are magnetised so they wont hang around in the game for long.

Ive also put more paint on my second unit of head hunters , and ive finally finished my attack bike squadron. Ill get more photos up soon.

My plans are to get everything i have left to paint for the legion painted during the holidays. Then in the new year i can get on with painting anything i get for christmas as well as my new contemptors.

My plan is to have an 8000 point army finished and painted by the start of February so i have a rather large game against a friend and his impressive Imperial Fist force at Warhammer world. Cant wait for it!

I was rudely awoken this morning my a courier at the door, before 8am! I forgave him almost instantly as i realised what he was delivering.

My Alpha Legion Contemptors are here!
As they arrived early ive already been able to wash them and now they are sat drying waiting for me to start messing about with them:


Also on an added note, i wish i had paid what the invoice stated i owed for them!:


Now i need ideas, i dont want these dreads to just be walking towards, i want them being dynamic. Smashing through rubble, pulling tanks/people apart, stomping on enemies etc. etc.

The contemptor model gives a huge amount of scope for posing, so how should i pose them? From these, two will have heavy conversion beamers and chainfists and the other will have a chainfist and a DCCW (this one will most likely appear on the field in a drop pod too). So any suggestions will be more than welcomed

You got your fw stuff early too eh? I ordered a load of mk4 marines on Sunday and they came this morning. Good work FW. And great job on the speeder

Really enjoyed scrolling through this thread beginning to end, beautiful armies. I really love your Alpha Legion..... errr, I mean Imperial fists

@sierra 1247 - yep arrived just in time for me to have time to start messing about with them!

@lady_mournival - thanks! I like to call them alpha fists or imperial legion! As I mentioned before I'm trying to organise a game against a friend for early next year, at least 8k a side. He plays imperial fists, so hopefully with all the yellow on both sides the table will look pretty cool. Also we are planning on rocking down to warhammer world to use one of their excellent tables. I can't wait, and km determined to get everything in my army finished before we play.

Christmas and New Years have been a bit crazy at home with lots of travelling, seeing friends and generally eating and drinking too much, getting in the way of a good slog of hobby progress. I have managed a bit though, but i now have the bit between my teeth and am pressing on to having my entire 8k force ready for a battle at warhammer world on 10th Feb. Should be pretty epic

Anyway here is my progress from recently:

I started by putting together a base ornament for one of my new AL contemptors. I found enough bits of a old dread(s) lying about to make a mashed looking example:


I then set about posing the contemptor on top of it to show it ripping the sarcophagus case open:


The arm not holding the case isnt glued in at all at the moment so there is scope to move it about, initially i wanted it to be posed with its chainfist blade stuck in the shoulder of the dread on the floor (hence the hole in its shoulder) but i couldnt get an angle good enough without modelling an overly long and fragile looking chainfist. Im not entirely sure where i want to put this second arm now....ideas?

I then moved on to building some of the presents i got at christmas. My overly generous mother-in-law went a bit nuts and bought me a Dreadclaw drop pod, a deathstorm drop pod and (not 40/30k related) a dread saurian!! (See my lizardman thread shortly for more details - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/623260.page)

I quickly made a mould of all the bits in the deathstorm kit (minus a few little bits) so i could utilise a standard pod i had lying about:

The mould wasnt perfect, but it was good enough to produce a decent model.

From my own parents this christmas i received an airbrush (my first ever) - An Iwata Neo. So i have set about painting the three drop pods with this. Im using more of the FW paint scheme for these, which i do like, but have never been able to replicate without an airbrush before.:


Im happy enough with these results, especially as they are my first attempts with the air brush. The camera has darkened the blue and washed out the greener bottom parts a bit.

Next step is to add details and iconography. This should help me tie these in with the rest of my force, especially once weathered to buggery!

I really love the dreadclaw kit, its works so nicely. Also FW give you a little resin nubbins to fit on the end of the flight stand that the fin of the drop pod just slides into, it really does make it easy to show its different flight and hover modes.

Against my better judgement i have also ordered the final bits i need to complete my 8k list. Two dreadnought drop pods (for smashing contemptors) and another dreadclaw for my second head hunter unit.

I think i now have 2 deathstorm DPs, 2 dreadnought DPs, 2 dreadclaw DPs, 3 contemptors, 10 breachers and a siege breaker to finish for feb.......hmmm might be a little busy with this!

My 8k list looks something like this:

- Alpharius
- Armillus Dynat
- Exodus
- Praetor with paragon blade
- Siege breaker
- Saboteur
- Vigilator

- 3 x 10 man Tac squads in Rhinos
- 1 x 9 man Recon Marine Squad
- 1 x 5 man Recon Marine Squad
- 1 x 5 man Sniper Squad
- 1 x 10 man Breacher Squad

- 3 Contemptor Talon - Twin Volkite, and 2 x Heavy Conversion Beamer
- 2 x Contemptors in Dreadnough drop pods - Both with Chainfist, DCCW and 2 x graviton guns
- 2 x Apothercaries
- 1 x 10 man Terminator Squad
- 1 x 5 man destroyer squad
- 1 x 5 man Templar Brethren Squad in Land raider proteus with explorator web

- 4 x Attack bikes
- 3 x land speeders
- 1 x Javelin land Speeder
- 2 x 9 man Headhunter squads in Dreadclaw Drop pods (serg with inferno pistol)
- Storm eagle gunship

- Sicaran Battle Tank
- Sicaran Venator
- Fire Raptor
- 2 x Deathstorm Drop pods

Should be fun to see on all on one of warhammer world's amazing tables (i think we have booked the one with the big bridge on). Also will be amazing to see lined up against my opponent's force who may be bringing a lot of heavy firepower such as 2 thunderhawks, a reaver titan, a typhon, a flachion, plus a stupidly large assortment of other tanks and heavy armour!

In further prep of a massive 8k/side battle at Warhammer World, ive been cracking on with painting all the stuff i have left outstanding with my Alpha Legion. Not everything is finished, but ive taken a shot of my entire force (which with the exception of a couple of infantry models, will be at the aforementioned battle):

The Whole Force:


The Command Team:


The Infantry:


The Vehicles:


Others:


ive got a couple of weeks to finish painting all the drop pods, the breachers, the siege breaker and the 3 new contemptors. Hopefully i can get it done as i dont want to have an unfinished army spoiling the view of the (hopefully) amazing spectacle of 16k of legion marines on a beautiful warhammer world scenic board.

Wow, seeing this army displayed all together is so impressive. It's easy to see the dedication that you've put into this army, not to mention your sisters and guard.

Do you have any pictures of the game?

Thanks!

We havent had the battle yet, its scheduled for 10th Feb, so ive got some frantic painting left to do before i get there.

Ive got various degrees of finishing off to do on the 6 drop pods. but generally its weathering rather than standard colours, so i might be able to get them done in time.

When we have the battle ill be sure to take a load of photos, and get the best up on here. I know my opponent has finished his reaver titan, and was very close to finishing both his thunderhawks when i last spoke to him.

its been a while since my last update, but a lot has happened in the mean time. I did manage to get my entire 8k force painted in prep for a big battle against my friends IF and titan force. To cut a long story short then game was pretty epic, lots of massive destruction on both sides, but in the end kill points were pretty much a tie, maybe 2-3 difference either side. What decided the game was the objectives on the table, which i held 3 of and my opponent only held 1. So a victory for the Alpha legion over the heavily armoured imperial fists.

Here are a few photos from the game:

A massive amount of points in this one pic! (note the breacher squad valiantly trying to stick melta bombs to the titan's legs before it stomps up and down on them!)


Two of my anti-tank units advance on the Typhon that is soon to be a pile of melta-bombed slag.


An AL contemptor runs in against the Flachion for a second try at killing it after the Falchion failed to nuke the dread off the board.


A bit of carnage happening over a predator squadron and Alpharius advancing on an IF contemptor


After the that battle ive had another one against a combined force of Dark Angels and Salamanders. Its didnt go as well, but it was an excpetionally fun game to play. From it i realised that i really am lacking any serious CC hitting power beyond Alpharius and the contemptors. Also i am missing a decent bodyguard for my Praetor or the big man himself.

So ive set about constructing a command squad to run with them. It might be expensive points wise (about 500 including their transport) but i think it should look pretty cool on the table.

The idea behind the colour schemes is that each member is a chosen infiltrator and has returned to the man force without having time to repaint/change armour. They will be pretty beaten up looking by the end.

Ive gone for an Imperial fist Apothecary, a salamander with shield, a space wolf with power axe, an iron hand with power fist, a blood angel with power sword and an ultra marine standard bearer.

To bring them together as a coherent unit i have added robes/cloths to all of them which will be painted with AL insignia and colours. All of these are also on the new 32mm bases, mainly because they look a lot more imposed like that and they fit in with the other model i got recently:


Autilon Skorr - The forgeworld event only model for the AL. Hes a beautiful sculpt and his rules are pretty epic too. He came with the 32mm base, so i think ill use that and upgrade all my character models to the same to make them stand out. Cant wait to get painting him


On another front, in a vain effort to win a golden ticket from GW (i'd probably end up ordering 7ft of plastic terrain!) i bought a box of the new End Times Rat Ogres. When i saw them a while ago i had thoughts about using them in my Imbros Irregulars army, and now im bringing that to fruition.

Im going to run them as Bullgryns. The idea being that towards the sump of a Hive city when mutations are abound and that thinks like giant rats exists, its not beyond the realms of thought that a huge Rat-based abhuman would develop. Anyway they have been found and put into service as demolition crews, riot control and general being big and beastly. Ive made two up with slan shields and grenade launchers and the other (the leader) up with a brute shield and power maul (massive rock crushing drill)






There are a few more little bits i want to add to these and then a few gaps to fill before i can get them primed, but im pretty happy with how they are turning out so far.