So why did I decide to create a home brewed chapter you ask?

After having done armies for both Space Wolves and grey knights, and having painted my friends Dark Angels, I finally broke down last fall and got the Deathstorm box. I have waffled between doing Blood Angels and Space wolves, and ended up on team space viking. I already have a bunch of old Tyranids laying around so I figured "why not?" I had always wanted to paint some of the blood angels minis. Then I got a copy of Space hulk for a steal. So without really intending to, I started a blood angels army. I didn't want to paint them as Blood angels as I already have a Wordbears army, as well as a ork army of speed freaks, so an all red army didn't appeal to me. I did like the Flesh Tearers colors, but lets face it, they are darn near chaos and I already have too much chaos. So I drummed up the back ground for an new Blood Angels descended chapter, the Grail wardens:

Here's a Grail Wardens Tactical marine:



Death Company:



Here are some almost completed test minis:





Here are the chapters Details:

Founding Chapter: Blood Angels
Founding: 17th
Chapter master: Castellan Agramon
Home world: Percion V
Fortress Monastery: The black keep on Percion V
Colors: Deep red and black, reversed for death company
Specialty: Assault, combined arms
Strength: approx 800 battle brothers, 400 recruits
Warcry: “By the blood of the grail!”

Homeworld:
The homeworld of the Grail wardens is Percion V, a world of high arctic mountains and arid desert regions. Located in the ultima segmentum, Percion V is the closest habitable world to the Gate of Mourn, one of the most navigable routes into or out of the Ghoul stars. The human population of Percion V is kept in a feudal state by the grail wardens and the non human native life includes a variety of predacious species. These species are allowed to remain to serve to strengthen the native human populations. The constant struggle against the natural predators of Percion V makes for a population that produces ideals recruits for the Grail Wardens.

History:
Created during the 17th founding, sometime in the mid 36th millennium, the Grail Wardens were founded to serve as an interdiction force against any xenos incursions from the Ghoul Stars. They serve alongside the Death Specters protecting the imperium from the vile threats that emanate from this benighted area of space.

Notable battles:

Battle for Herion’s landing: The first recorded mention of the Grail Wardens listed their chapter as defending religious pilgrims from raids by dark elder raiders.

The Plague of unbelief: In one of the earlier actions in the chapters history, 4 companies helped quell rebellions in the wake of Bucharis’s secession from the empire.

5th black crusade: Both the 3rd and 5th companies lost in battle with chaos forces from the Black legion and Death Guard.

Waaggghhh! Black toof: Troops drawn from the 7th company, as well as 6 squads of aspirants’ drawn from the 10th company, lead a 2 year hit and run attack on the mechanized forces of Ungluk Black Toof. Black Toof forces are finally obliterated during an attack on the warlord’s main fuel processing facility.

Occlusiad wars: The grail wardens suffered heavy casualties while fighting the Blinds Kings forces.

The Ghost wars: elements from the 1st and 2nd companies engaged with black legion traitor marines on the desolate moon of Pradius V.

The Hrud migration of the Belios ring: Warriors of the Grail Wardens cleansed the warrens beneath the Capital of belios Prime with flame and righteous fury.

The Arcadian Uprising: Also known as “the one week war” elements of the Grail Wardens 3rd and 4th companies, in conjunction with the Krieg 18th siege division, put down a populist rebellion of more than 2 million mutants, slaves, had workers, and hive spire dilettantes.

The siege of Peliculan’s keep: One of the darkest days in the Chapter history occurred after a 6 month long siege of the planetary governor of Kromtac III, an industrial world on the eastern fringe. Over the six month siege every attempt to crack the Governors Polar keep had been stymied, and once the Grail Wardens forces finally broke through the defenses, they massacred every soul within the keep. The atrocities committed during this night of slaughter caused 8 squads from the Grail Wardens 7th company to go rogue. Knowing that they would face severe censure for their behavior, they took possession of one of the chapters strike cruisers and fled to parts unknown. As soon as the 7th Company was returned to full strength, Captain Melechan took the entirety of his company on a penitent crusade to track down these rebels and bring them the Emperor’s justice.

13th Black crusade: The Grail wardens committed 5 full companies to the defense of the Cadian gate. The chapter incurred heavy losses in the Defense of the hazardous training facilities on Prosan.

Gene seed:
The gene seed of the Grail Wardens is considered amongst the purest of the bloodlines descended from the Blood Angels. While the flaw still occurs in this successor chapter, the Sanguinary Priests of the Grail Wardens are constantly working to purify their gene seed. This has resulted in close times between the chapter’s sanguinary priests and brother Corbulo, Sanguinary High priest of the Blood Angels. The Sanguinary priests of the Grail Wardens believe that the key to eradicating the flaw in their gene seed is locked away in the tiny amounts of Sanguinius’ blood still passed unto neophytes during their induction into the chapter.

Black rage: Members of the Grail wardens who succumb to the black rage are inducted into the death company, much the same as in other Blood Angel’s successors. The incidence of black range is lower in the Grail Wardens than in some of the other chapter derived from Blood Angels gene seed. The Grail Wardens Death Company heraldry is not all black, but rather an inversion of the typical colors worn by the rest of the chapter.

Red Thirst: Battle brothers of the Grail Wardens must contend with the red thirst just as all other sons of Sanguinius. The Grail Wardens attempts to eradicate the flaw from their gene seed has led to a lower level of occurrence of brothers who give in to the red thirst, but those who do go through a physical transformation which scars them for life. When a Grail Warden violates his vows and gives into the red thirst, his face become misshapen and monstrous. Their skin becomes pale and all hair falls out. This physical corruption marks them out from their brothers, and for the remainder of their lives they never appear outside of their armor. Most brother who have failed the chapter in this way never do so again, but a small minority never return from the thirst, and these brothers are given the emperors mercy by the chapters chaplains.

Culture:
The Grail Wardens are a chapter who strive to embody the best of Sanguinus’ legacy, always defending the citizens of the Imperium. Unlike many other Space Marine chapters, the Grail Wardens have a great deal of empathy for the citizens that they protect, and their interactions with base line humans are far more humane than is typically seen with member of the Adeptus Astartes.
They take their role as wardens very seriously and are proactive about quashing threats from the ghoul stars before they coalesce and ravage the worlds that the Grail Wardens are sworn to protect. The battle brothers of this chapter view themselves as holy warriors and attempt to hold themselves to the highest virtues. This desire for the ideal makes it all the more tragic when members of the chapter fall to the black rage or the red thirst.
The Sanguinary priesthood of the Grail wardens is very much involved in research into the flaw and work closely with the other chapters derived from Blood Angels gene seed. The artistic skills common to chapters descended from the blood angels is also apparent in the Grail Warden, with many beautiful tapestries and sculptures adorning their keeps and battle barges.

Organization:
The Grail Warden adhere closely to the Codex Astartes, with the exception of their death company and sanguinary guard. Unlike their parent chapter, the Grail wardens do not distinguish between squad types with different colored helmets, but rather with squad markings.

Recruitment: The Grail Wardens maintain a constant recruitment cycle based out of their fortress monastery, “the Black Keep” situated in a secluded glade high in the Mountains of Percion V. Aspirants are chosen from among the young , who compete in gladiatorial games to win the notice of the chapters Chaplains.

Unique among Astartes chapters, the Grail Wardens often work closely with a specific regiment of imperial Guard forces, namely the Prosan 3rd, or the “Morloks” as they are more commonly known. This regiment was seconded to the grail wardens after they helped defeat a chaos incursion on the world of Prosan during the 13th black crusade. The Morloks were seconded to the Grail wardens command as a reward for the sacrifices made by the chapter defending the training facilities at Prosan. The Grail wardens have integrated these forces into their battle plans to create an extremely versatile combined arms force.


I will update with some more pics (hopefully) soon. I have a decent size force started already, many of the minis in very states of paint. I'm also going to be doing most of the basing from scratch, so I'll post some shots of those as well. Thanks for taking the time to have a look, and feel free to hit me back with any questions, comments, or feed back!

I like the colour scheme but lack the patience to read the lore... Good job but you might get farther compliments from me when im not as lazy...

I love the scheme and the fluff, it's nice to see marines who actually DO care somewhat for imperial citizens

Good stuff. Very nice, especially the inversion of the scheme.

Thanks guys, glad you like the color scheme and background so far. I didnt really like the idea of a death company done all in black, so I figured an inversion of the usual scheme would be a good way to have them stand out, but still look like part of a cohesive force. Still not sure what I am going to do in regards to sanguinary guard, but I guess I will cross that bridge once I come to it.

Next shots up are of some devastators. These were actually the first models I had for this force, ironic I know considering blood angels are usually an assault force. I had a variety of different bits left over from friends and other projects, and realized I had enough to cobble together a few devastators. I was originally going to use them as long fangs for my space wolves, but then the death storm box came out, and I thought I would use the extra death company bits to make them the first marines for my blood angels.













And here are a couple of Sgts to direct their fire





All of these minis are still WIP, as I plan to edge highlight them all. This is something I have avoided doing in the past as it takes forever, but with this color scheme it is really required to make them not look quite so flat. I am getting a good set of base colors on all of them first and then will go back in and add the highlights, and possibly some shading with washes depending on how they turn out. I am also going with a space hulk/industrial scheme for the bases. I already bought some resin bases, but realized that I had most of the materials laying around to scratch build comparable quality so that is one of the other projects I am working on concurrently. Hope you all enjoy, and I will try to post of WIP of some of the bases next.

Looking Great Brother! I cant wait to see the finishing touches put on them. Excellent choice of colors, works really well with the blood angels bits as well

So heres a few shots of some of the HQs for this army. first up is a chaplain in terminator armor. This guy is very nearly done. Just need to do some coverage on one of his shoulders, find where i stashed is iron halo, and finish a base for him. I love this model, its by far one of my favorite space marine sculpts ever. Its also a real joy to paint!







Next up is a power armored librarian. Hes also pretty much finished except for a base.





And last but not least, here is the calisterius model from Space hulk. This model is one of the main reasons I bought that set. I've gotten most of him painted, i still need to figure out what to do with his force axe, and I want to go back in and do some more work on his face. Also needs a base.



and heres one with the flash on to show a bit more of the shadowed details.



and speaking of bases, here are a few that I have been working on

Nice work thus far, and I'm really digging that chaplain.

Thanks for the compliments everybody, I'm glad you all like what I'm doing with these guys so far. Next shots up are some terminators that I have gotten the basic colors on. I have a bunch of terminators for this army already, not sure how that happened. Seems like every deal I find includes some terminators. I swear I have more terminators in my space wolves than in my buddies death wing!

First guy up is from the space hulk box. I love his pose, but I'm not entirely sure how I am going to base him. Most of this army is going to be on bases with diamond texture on them, so I'm not sure if I will cut bits to match what he is ripping up, or do something else.



Next is my test to see how this pattern looked on an assault terminator.



Last but not least, my first test terminator. I think he was a freebie that came with an old issue of white dwarf.





Thanks again for taking the time to look, and for all your feedback!

Just picked up a pretty good deal off craigslist last night to add some variety and boots on the ground for the grail wardens. $30 netted me 20 tactical marines, 3 bikers, a landspeeder, 5 of the old school terminators, and 5 of the old mono pose tactical marines that came with the old starter paint set. Strangely enough, I think the thing I'm most excited about were the mono pose tacticals. Don't know why, but I really cant wait to paint one of those suckers! And by some miracle, none of them are horribly mangled or painted with 18 layers of lead paint or anything. Most of it isn't even glued together.

Heres the whole hoard I picked up



Old school termi sgt.



Old school tactical sgt. I'm not sure if I am going to leave him as is. or possibly swap his chainsword for one of the blood angels bits and give him a plasma pistol. Anybody
have any opinions on this?

That's a very nice haul of marines. I'm jealous. Good work on all your guys so far

Very nice start, and the scheme really works - both for the DC and the regular force.

Thanks so much for all the feed back everybody.It really helps keep me motivated. Since both of the large sets that I bought to provide the base for my grail wardens also included Tyranids, I have been working on them as well. I actually already had a pretty sizable tyranid force that I was given by a buddy to paint, and I've been puttzing around with it for years, never really happy with a color scheme. After much hemming and hawing, I think I finally found one I like, so heres the fist few I have painted.






















As always comments, criticisms, and questions welcomed and appreciated!

I like it. Except the Librarians face. The tyranids would look better with some kind of bright detail on the carapace (see Splinterfleet Dendrobates in august 8 WD).

Ember

Thanks Emberlordof fire. I'm actually planning on doing some more layering for the librarians face, plus his force axe and writing on his scrolls. I just put him aside until I have some good uninterrupted hobby time at home, as alot of the painting time I get is in my office during my lunch break where the set up is not ideal for detail work like that. Its great for putting on base coats etc though. As for the tyranids, the lack of a bright eye catching color is intentional. I wanted to go with a more organic look as opposed to one of the super bright insect schemes. Plus I like the thought of them creeping down a space hulk corridor, blending into every shadow. The light grey/white highlighting on the carapace shows up brighter in person as well. Thanks for the feedback!

Hobby time has been pretty restricted this week due to the purchase of a new car and graduate school classes resuming, but i was able to get enough time to slap some paint on a few of the really old marines i got in that craigslist deal a week or so ago. They actually tuned out pretty decent in my opinion, and were a bit quicker to paint as they have a lot less fine details.

First up is the Sgt. I swapped out his bolt pistol for a period appropriate plasma pistol I had laying around. I also gave him a contemporary chain sword so that he had a little bit of blood angels swag.





Next is a standard tactical marine. I realized after I took the pic that I forgot to get his lenses. Guess thats what I get for trying to paint after taking sleep meds!



Thanks again for taking a look, and C&C is welcome and appreciated!

Those are beautiful. You should try RT beakies too, if you get the chance.

Thanks Stormwall! I actually have a couple of REALLLYYY old metal beakies laying around that I recently stripped. They were caked with so much paint it was hard to tell what they were. Maybe they will be next on the to do list!

I just warnt to say something:
Thanks to you I just went impulse buying for tyranids. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH TERMAGANTS?!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I painted them in a really cool variation of the box colours, with grey substituted for cream, green wash in the crevices/vents and red carapace.
I'll post pics soon,

Ember

Emberlord, I'm glad I could help destroy your will to resist the hive mind! You definitely need to post some pics as that sounds like a sick color scheme. As for what to do with termagaunts, I suggest using them to soak up in coming fire.

Great job on the sergeant. He upgraded nicely.

Next up is the death company dred I got in the death storm box. Got the basic colors in, I'll try to get the highlighting and details done next.









As always thanks for looking, and C&C welcome and appreciated!

Is that your workspace you've fotografed it on?

My, ummm, "Place Of Important Work Where I Must Not Be Disturbed Do You Hear Me I Mean It!" Looks like a bomb hit it, I'm now painting on aproximatly 10 square centimeters due to receiving 5 boxes of Chaos Marines, Space Marine devastates, vanguard vets, and the space I DO have is covered with, like, a razorback, the TERMAGAUNTS YOU MADE ME BUY, and one very VERY broken Inquisitor.

Sorry for the rambling, AMAZING DREADNOUGHT, I love painting dreads (although I never run them). I have a really cool WIP conversion with a riled of arm and all the wires coming out. I got it off EBay and it didn't have a second arm. It's turning out nicely though.

I feel your pain Emberlord. My painting desk is currently covered with: Too many paint pots to count, several metal dragons that have been stripped and need to be re painted, a squad of necron tomb guard who have been half painted for about 6 months, same thing for a sgt telion and pedro cantor, lots of bits for the grail wardens I am working on, an entire box of base coated minis from various factions that serves as my "on deck" to be painted box, and lots of various odds and ends. In fact its easier to just show you so here it is:






As for progress on my painting back log, I did get some of the details on the Daeth company dred finished, namely the blood claws and some of the edge highlighting for the red black. Here's what I have gotten done so far:










I'm not entirely sure I am happy with the way the edge highlighting is showing up on the red. I think because the panels are significantly bigger on the dred than on the marines it may not be as obvious, so I think I may go a shade lighter and try highlighting with orange rather than the bright red. What do you guys think?

Once again thanks for looking and C&C is welcome and appreciated!!

Cool scheme. Nice to see some homebrew BA successor chapters.

D

The dreadnought looks great.

Thank you Isaniak and evildrcheddar! I'm glad you like it. Any opinions on the red highlights? Should I leave them as is or go one level lighter?

As some of you may have noticed, I have been simultaneously working on both my grail wardens and a as yet un-named hive fleet. This is for a couple of reasons, first and fore most is that I began the base of both armies with two large set (death storm and spacehulk) that both happened to contain Blood angels and Tyranids. Secondly, I'm having a good time working on them as dedicated opposing force. They will both be based in a similar fashion and may even have some mini dioramas. Lastly, and to some degree most importantly, having two very different armies to work on keeps me from getting fatigued painting the same thing over and over again.

So after putting in some work on my death company dred, I've gotten bored with my Grail Wardens and spent some time last night working on my hive tyrant. Unfortunately his tail broke off when I was moving him to take pics, so he's a little stubby in these shots. I'm fairly pleased with the color scheme so far and how they are turning out. Not sure what color I want to use as a spot color on things like toxin sacs etc, anybody have any good suggestions? Heres the results so far:

Ei like the Orange whip thing' it draws the eye to the mini, especially because the rest of the model is so dark. Nice work!

Ember

Thanks Ember, glad you like it!

Sorry for the lack of updates folks. My pops was in the hospital with cardiac issues, and then I eloped with my fiance last week while on a trip to scatter my mother ashes. Been a slightly busy beaver!
So heres what I have been up to. Lets start with the first two minis I would consider pretty much done. All the highlighting is done, bases done, etc. I'll take some better shots with a better background at some point.



Net shot is group shot of a bunch of tactical machines that I am mostly finished with. Still need to do some highlighting on most of these guys, especially the black areas:



Here's a little diorama I put together. I didn't intend for these two to go together, but I think they fit pretty well!



Next up are some WIP kit bashes. Fist is a combination of tactical, blood angels, and a scout heavy bolter:






Next is a bunch of tactical kitbashed WIP:











Lastly are a couple of old bikers who i kitbashed with blood angels tactical and death company bits,and various stowage:






There you go, thats what I have been up to lately. Hopefully wont be quite so long before my next update. As always thanks for looking and comments and criticism welcome and appreciated!!

Looking neat. You should battle damage the hive tyrant's tail and have it adoring a base/vehicle as a trophy for your gail wardens.

I think a final highlight of red on the gail wardens would be useful actually just to make them pop.

I love the new dude with the maul. Very cool.

D

Evildrcheese: Its funny, this is the first time I have ever worked on two forces simultaneously that are being done as opposing forces, so I am actually planning on including quite a few trophies in each army. For example, my death company dread is going to have one of the spare heads from the carnifex in his left claw. When I base the hive tyrant he's going to be stepping on a marine who has been torn in half (ala bishop from aliens).
Thanks for the feedback on the highlighting as well, I think I'll try giving one of them a very fine highlight with some orange and see how it looks.

Not so long between updates this time, lets see if we can keep that trend going ;-) Got bored painting tacticals, so I spent some time getting a base of red on my landspeeder. Pretty sure ts gonna need another coat, but the coverage isnt bad for a first coat. What do guys think of the ratio of red:black areas? Its easy with power and termi armor, but a little harder to gauge with vehicles.








As always thanks for looking and commenting!!

I like that land speeder, it looks really nice with the large black patches. PLEASE keep the Aquila black. Please.

Keep up the good work, Ember

So I finally got around to putting the finishing touches on the landspeeder. Sorry Emberlord, but the aquila got done up in brass/gold tones. Every other aquila in the army is either bone or gold colored, so black would have been a bit off. Oh,and I have drilled out the multi meltas barrels since the pics ;-)











As always comments and criticism very welcome!!

Solid paint job.

I feel like something is lacking but I can't put my finger on it...i feel like something should 'pop' on the mini, but honestly can't think of what it would be.

D

That land speeder is gorgeous. Nice work

i feel like something should pop on the miniature

Glowing jets? Maybe green?

Hmm not sure. It's one of the things I struggle with when pairing marine vehicles. Doesn't necessarily have to be a glowing type of pop, some iconography would probably do the trick.

D

I've been thinking of getting some custom decals made up as most of the blood angels slides are blood drops etc. I would prefer to have more grail iconography instead as these are the grail wardens after all. I've been meaning to check the waterslides transfers I got with some brettonian miniatures and see if their are any grails on there.

Got tired of working with marines for a bit, so spent some time over the weekend working on my nids. I magnetized the carnifex that I got in the box set and finally got around to slapping some paint on him and his various arms and heads, etc. I'm fairly pleased with how he is turning out, but I still want to do a fine edge highlight with white on the armor plates and I'm thinking of changing the blue color on the "gills" and bits on the strangle thorn cannon. Any body have suggestions on what color might look better? After looking at the pics I also realized there are some egregious mold lines that need to cleared off as well.









As always comments and criticisms welcome and appreciated!

Man, I've always wanted a carnifex. Mabey after Raven Guard. Sigh...

So i finally finished the first tactical squad for the Grail Wardens. last up was the sgt. Outfitted him with a grav pistol and a power sword. I'm using some of the robed bits from the Dark Angels vet box for my sgts to convey the pious, monk like nature of the chapter. I wasn't sure about what color to do the robes at first. I tried grey and it didn't look quite right so I settled on the same bone color I have used for dark angels in the past. Also included are a couple of group shots of the squad together. Overall I'm very pleased with how they turned out.











Thanks for looking and as always, comments and criticism welcome and appreciated!

That Tac squad looks gorgeous. Real nice work

Yeah the Tac squad look great. How come the sgts base is so radically different from the rest of the squad?

EDC

Maybe you should make your sgt a VETERAN SGT. Or add Tabards to some of the others. My personal Space Marines mix Veterans with their tac squads to Keep their Experiences alive. Maybe Grail Wardens to?

Thanks guys, glad you like em! After highlighting etc they turned out pretty much just how I envisioned them. Evildrcheese, the baseon the vet sgt. is a bit different as I put a heavy layer of rust on it and dint highlight it as much as the resat of the squad apparently. After seeing the pics, I went back and put another layer of silver on it and it matches better now. Emberlordoffire8, I make all my Sgts veterans so that I can give them better weapons such as the power sword. Best way to put a bit of close combat punch in a tac squad!

I would suggest 5 man tac squads. They are awesome. I ONLY run 5 man, and it saves me allot of points i can use on my overpriced veterans (my Van Vets come in at 375 p.)

Been very busy for the last month or so, sorry no updates. I did manage to get a terminator and few tactical s done over the holidays. I've only had a chance to take pics of the terminator. Also realized after looking at the pics that i missed a bit of red splash on the black around his collar, so I will go back and cover that up ASAP.

Awesome. He just needs a big, imposing send base for him to stand on. Any photos of the tactical So?

Very nice. That's the problem of reviewing pictures, I always find something I need to go back and fix.

EDC

Thanks for the kind words on Brother Goriel folks. I did finally take some pics of the tacticals I had been working on. I also put the final edge highlights on brother Noctis, so here are some pics of them!

First up is Noctis:





Next are the two tacticals I have finished recently:










There you are folks! Hope you like em! Comments and criticisms welcome as always!

A tip on painting eyes:

A small line of Ceremite White in the center, then that blue glaze. Makes it glow.

Thanks for the tip emberlordoffire!

So I finally had some quality time for painting as I was house bound with super cold weather over the weekend. Got some pics of some of the stuff I worked on, and I will have more pics soon hopefully.


First up I finally finished off Callisterius. Did his force axe and got a little shading on his face, writing on the scrolls etc.








Next up are a couple of terminators from space hulk that I put the finishing touches on.













And last but not least an old school terminator captain





Thanks for looking and as always comments and criticism welcome!

Amazing. I would suggest a bit more shading on the metal bits.

So I was perusing craigslist the other day and saw someone local to me was selling off a bunch of tyranid models. I was really only interested in his flyrant and tyrant guard, but after talking he offered me the batch for $100 bucks. I couldn't pass that up, especially considering it contained a barbed heirodule. Here's the haul I got, I figure retails about 450-500. Not bad for a hundred buck huh? All told it contains the heirodule, 2 dakka fexes, 3 tyrant guard, 1 swardlord, and 1 flyrant, plus a bag of various bits the guy didn't use when making them, including the spare tyrant wings and some twin linked devourers from forgeworld. I'll have to strip it all down, but the effort is totally worth it in my opinion.






Automatically Appended Next Post:
BTW EmberlordofFire, were talking about shading the metallics, or highlighting them? I don't wanna go darker so I don't think I'll shade them,but I was considering a highlight with a brighter metallic silver.

That would work.



Why does everyone get better earls than me?

Wow. Beautiful work.... Now to just send a couple Genestealers to "Get a closer look" at your Grail Wardens.
But seriously you basically stole those Tyranids, I wish I could find deals like that!

I know, right? I almost felt bad paying him only a hundred bucks for that deal. He said he had a bunch of armies and was just trying to make space. He also gave me a discount as he knew I use going to strip them and the carapace is lacquered, so he knocked a few bucks off for that. I still totally feel like I got the best end of that deal!

So the stripping went fairly well. They no longer make the stripping product I used to use, but I made do with power clean and it did a pretty decent job. It didn't get down to the bare plastic, but got down to the base coat which should work well enough for my paint scheme.

Heres the before pic:




And here is the after:







I've also gotten a bit of painting done, but haven't had a chance to get pics yet, but I should be able to get them up soon.

Good work. Did you strip everything or just the 'fex?

EDC

I've stripped everything but the heirodule so far. That beast is too big for the container I usually use to strip things. I think I'm going to have to wait until my dogs food container hits empty then borrow that for a day or two as I think its just about the perfect size!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So here's the pretty much completed death company Dreadnought. I decided to have him serve as a sort of mini diorama, with a dead gene stealer at his feet, a termagant climbing up his back, and a carnifex head in his claw. I'm happy with most of it, but I may go back in and do some green stuff work on the decapitated carnifex head to make it look a bit better. I hollowed it out and stuck a bunch of bits, wire, etc in there and goo'ed it up with super glue and a few layers of paint, wash, and purity coat. On the other hand if I go back I might just make it worse, so eh....not sure.















Thanks for looking and as always, comments and criticism are welcomed and appreciated!

That base just isn't big enough, if it was you could put him on a rock of sorts, it would be awesome...

You really think the base is too small? Its the standard size a dred comes with. He does have his left foot a bit higher than the right, giving the impression he is lifting the decapitated carnifex head up in victory. I actually though the base looked a little too empty, that's why I put the dead stealer on it.

I'm a fan of huge scenic bases. I'm currently basing my Cataphractii using 4 of the GW basing paint, plus wood, sand and various styrene bits. I've done 4 in the past 2 weeks.

Death Co dread looks great, I like the mini diorama you've done. The bases isn't too small, but needs more texture /debris the dead gene stealer on a flat surface with no battle debris around looks a bit cynical and at odds with the carnage happening with the dread.

EDC

Thanks for the feedback on the dread's base guys! I might go back and add some wounds/ gore to the stealer, and see what other bits I could litter it with.

Been Working a bunch of stealers and a few terminators in the last few weeks, slowly but surely grinding away at the backlog of minis that meed paint. I like working on two armies at once as it keeps it from getting monotonous, but it also seems to take longer to get an serious amount of stuff painted. I guess its a trade off either way. Any way, heres what I've been working on recently:



















Thats it for today, thanks for taking a look! Comments and criticism always welcome and appreciated!

Cool. Those termies really are great models. You've really done them justice.

I like the genestealers too, very cool.

EDC

Im working on a bunch of genestealers myself now, as a break from my Raven Guard Legion. Nicely done!

Ember

Been working on getting all those monstrous creatures I got in my craigslist buy stripped, built and re painted. First up is one of the carnifexes. I have never liked the look of dakkafexes, as those stubby little devouer arms look weird on that huge body. I know they are a very effective load out, but seeing as I am unlikely to ever use these guys in a game, aesthetic wins over practical every time. So I gave this one a stranglethorn cannon, with a set of the devourer arms as a nod to a gun beast. Looking at the close up pics I can see some really egregious mold lines etc I should go back in and fix. Not sure I'm bothered enough to do so, but I should...Eh, we'll see how much energy I have when I get home tonight.

Very nice! I like the shading a lot!


Ember

Thanks Emberlordoffire! I'm fairly pleased with how the nids are turning out. Its nice to work on this and my grail wardens at the same time, because the marines are all hard lines, and crisp highlights, where the nids are lots of natural looking dry brushing and shading. The contradiction of the two different styles helps keep me from getting bored with either so far. Looking at the amount of gaunts and strealers I still have to paint does worry me a bit though...

Continuing the work on my Tyranids, I busted out a bunch of base coats on some of the med size creatures this last weekend (raveners, lictors, tyrant guard etc.) I got a good base on all of them, only had the time to finish the guards though. # of the four are the newer models, and one is the old metal model with some spare crushing claws from the new kit. Comments and criticism welcome and appreciated as always!

Nice. Are those the old models? I can't tell...

Ember

Most of them are the newer models, but one of the guys with the claws is an older metal model with plastic claws. you cant tell because his tail in shorter, his knuckles are bigger, and the carapace is a slightly different shape.

So I finally got around to working on the first of the sanguinary guard that I built like 4 months ago. This first set of shots is really WIP mid paint job.








The next bunch are with a full base coat and a few of highlights. Still need to put a smoother coat of the bone color on, and white highlights on that, plus highlights on all the red areas. Might also do a shade of the gold and highlight it back up.











I'll try and get some shots up once I get him finished in the next few days. Comments and criticism welcome and appreciated as always!

Cool. The Nids are looking great and I really like the scheme on the Sang Guard, very eye catching indeed.

EDC

So you didn`t go with my idea PAINT THEM RED!

Sorry Emberlord, I tried one in red and I just wasn't digging it as it looked too much like a standard blood angel. I think the bone highlights their elite status and sort of "purity" without being all gold and pretentious.

So I've finished 2 more carnifexes, one of the model that came out in 5th edition and one of the models that came out in 2nd edition. I updated the older one with some arms from the current kit, and some crushing claws from a tyrant guard. I did some side by sides to show the difference in size between the two iterations of the same model.

First up is the more recent model:










Next up is the older of the two:











And heres the comparison shots:







Thanks for taking a look, criticism and comments welcome and appreciated as always!

I like the older one. Looks more like this ----> than a 'nid. Lol.

Looking good. That next 'fex kit is a huge improvement on the old IMO...

EDC

Emberlordoffire you are spot on, the old one does look more ork than tyranid. Glad you guys like them. Now that I have all the fexes done I'm alternating between working on the tyrants and sanguinary guard.

your paint jobs are really really crisp, look great! bone scheme looks good on the sanguinary guard, its just a bit clumpy (not that I could do any better..)
good work

Thanks STG! I agree the bone looks a little clumpy on the sanguinary guard. He was the first I panted and my paints went on a bit thick. I've painted another since then and its looking a bit better. Still have to get some highlights on him and then I'll post some picks.

Been a while since I posted, so i figured I would show you all what I had been working on. Much as I have enjoyed working on the grail wardens and hive fleet ______(name pending) one of my first 40k loves has been space wolves. When I saw that Krom was now available on his own, I had to pick him up. I've been taking my time with him, trying to make him look about as good as my limited skills will allow. So, now for something completely different, I present to you Krom Dragongaze (with up graded plasma pistol)

What "limited" skills? Nothing limited here...

Yeah Krom is looking pretty damn swanky if you ask me. Excellent work.

EDC

Aww, thanks guys! I'm still working on developing my blending technique and my brush control could be better, but overall I'm pretty happy with my current painting abilities. I finally invested in some windsor and newton brushes and that has definitely helped with the brush control.

After my little break to work on Krom, its back to the grail wardens and hive fleet_______ ( BTW if anybody has a good suggestion for a name I'm all ears. I did some research and pretty much every mythical sea creature name is already used). First up are some raveners and a lictor. I finished these guys a bit ago, just didnt get a chance to take pics til now.

Two of the raveners are stock bodies from the old metal raveners with warrior heads (As the old ravener heads were rubbish). The last one is a salvaged warrior that i got in a trade witha bit of old metal gargoyle for the lower body. Not much is visible, but I like the way it looks clawing its way through the decking.



















Not sure what happened to the pics of the lictor but I cant find them in my gallery, so I'll have to post them later. Thanks for looking and comments and criticism welcomed and appreciated!

Nice.

On the subject of mythical sea creatures, are you sure that "Hive Fleet Sea-Goat" is taken?

Yeah, for some reason sea goat doesnt conjure the same sense dread that dagon, kraken, oe leviathan does


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Heres the pic of the lictor that i meant to upload the other day.

Can you post pics of the whole army together? It would help with perspective.


Ember

Sure ember, I'll see if I have a few minutes this afternoon to get em all out and get a few shots. Were you just interested in the tyranids, or also the grail wardens?

Get the grail warriors in on the group photo too! would like to see your progress all in one pic!

Ok, since there seems to be interest in a group progress shot for both forces, here goes. Fist up are the Grail Wardens, as they were the impetus behind both these armies.

















Next up is hive fleet Anonymous

















I'm actually really glad that I took the time to get these all set up. I didn't realize it, but I think I am approximately half done with both of these armies ( At least with what I already have for them. We all know you are never really done with an army) I still have a bunch of tactical marines and gaunts to slug through, but seeing it all like this definitely helps me remain enthusiastic about these armies. Hopefully this gives everybody a idea bout how far these two armies have come in the last year or so. If you have anything specific you want further pics of just let me know. Commenets and criticism are welcome and appreciated as always!

I believe we have only seen about half of those on this thread so far.

Well done!

Sweet army shots dude. They both look great.

EDC

Thanks guys, glad you like em! Some times the sheer number of infantry I have to do for both is intimidating, but I think I'm going to set aside a few sundays this summer and just batch paint like crazy. So on to the next thing, I just got in a contemptor from Betrayal at calth that I picked up cheap on EBay. I already converted it some (namely cut it at the waist to get a bit more of a dynamic pose, drilled the barrels on the multi melta and exhaust, added bling etc) but I'm not sure which of two heads to use. I hated the derpy head it came with and I've tried both a saguinary guard vet helmet, as well as the librarian face plate from the furioso dread kit. You guys have any opinions on which you think looks better?

Heres the look with the librarian face plate:








And heres how he looks with the sanguinary guard veteran head







I would love to hear some opinions about which one you guys think looks better, I'm really torn myself.

the librarian face plate looks better IMO, I think it gives it a much more "ancient-relic"-y look... noice conversion though!!

Yeah, I'm kinda leaning that way as well STG. At first I preferred the vet head, but the more I look the more the librarian head is growing on me. Arrgggghhhhh!! Decisions!

Those both look awesome. The librarian head seems to fit with the proportions better... Its your model though. Go with your gut -- you're the one who needs to be happy with it.

So aside from the ravenors and lictor, I also recently finished two more of the sanguinary guard. I think the bone has turned out a bit better than on the first one I posted, still not sure about putting a final highlight on them or leaving them as they are now. Seeing the pics up close has also made me notice several spots I need to go back and touch up as well. I have one more for this unit who is about mid way done, hes the one carrying the standard. The last model from the set is on hold to make a home made version of dante once I get the right sort of jump pack. So heres number 2 and 3 of the four man unit:




















Thanks for taking the time to look and comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated!

They look mean! Good effort on a difficult colour, the red power swords look seriously slick

Thanks STG, I'm fairly happy with them. I still wish I could get the bone a little cleaner without doing 15 water thin coats, but I can live with them as is. I am very pleased with the swords as well. I always wondereed when they are called encarmine blades why no one paints them red. So i figured I would make mine look like the were dosed in glowing red blood

I like their poses. Normally the big jump packs make them look like they're falling over, but here they have ice dynamic poses. I like the highlights on the power weapons.

Nice Sang Guard, great work on the Contemptors, you did a much better headswap that I achieved with that model!

EDC

Small update: Got some decent downtime yesterday, so I got most of the base coat on the contemptor I got this week. Also spent some time assembling a box of death company marines and converting some bits to make a honor guard unit, but didn't get a chance to take pics of them. Heres the contemptor so far:









Thanks for looking, c&c welcomed and appreciated!

Your colour scheme looks really mean on that contemptor. Black as a secondary colour always looks good.
the way you put the paint on is very even, no idea how you do it, lots of thin layers??

STG, The red is about three layers. One of straight khrone red to get the base, another slightly thinned for coverage, and another coat thats much thinner to give it a fairly smooth finish. Right now I'm working on the edge highlights,hoping to have him done by the end of the week. I'm pleased with his look so far, its amazing how much a head swap and a slight change in position can do for a model. When I first saw this one I really didn't like it, and thought it was so much wasted potential. Still not very fond of the legs, but changing those would require quite a bit more work and I don't have the patience for it.

I had a bit of time this weekend and was able to get the contemptor finished. Got the highlights on him and a transfer on the tabbard. I ran out of dull coat, so the transfer is still a bit shiney. I'm really pleased on how this guy turned out, its pretty much exactly how I pictured it when I started working on him. The blood angels bits work, but don't over power the composition of the model in my opinion. Let me know what you all think!













Commenets and criticism are welcome and appreciated!

Looks really good, colour scheme comes together well!

Thanks STG! I am rather pleased with this one. At times I'm overly critical of my own stuff, but not this one. In fact when I just scrolled past the pics I was like "Damn, that realy turned out well!"

To be fair, it's quite hard to paint a bad Contemptor. But, hey, good job!

So thanks to Evildrcheese, I am now registered with Bolter and Chainsword and I am participating in the Tenebrae Lux V paitinging challenge. I vowed to paint up a certain number of Blood angels units, and I started with my conversion of a counts as Dante. I had him primed, so it was fairly easy to get started with him this weekend. Here he is, let me know what you guys think. I'm fairly happy with him, and he looks better in person than the pictures due to the lighting. If i ever get really ambitious I might wash the golds to give it some more depth and highlight it with bright gold on the edges, but I think I'll probably leave him as is.









As always, Comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated.

Dante is looking mean! one nitpick is that on his axe theres a mouldline all the way down the handle...
gold is hard to paint so fair play dude, looks great

Yeah, I noticed that same mold line once I put up the pics! Thats half the reason I post stuff, because I notice things I never would just looking at the mini.

Hey Col. Nice to have you in board for the ETL, Dante is looking wicked cool.

Your Contemptor is looking ace too, nice work.

EDC

Thanks EDC! And thanks for the invite to participate in the ETL, I'm sure it will motivate me to get stuff painted quicker. Speaking of which, heres a few things I have done in the last week or so. First up is a random rogue trader era marine I had laying around. Its amazing how soft the details were on this one, made it kind of hard to paint. He's a bit fuky looking, but I kinda like his swagger ;-)








Next up is random tactical marine I painted right before vowing on the ETL painting challenge. Now That I have made my vow the rest of his unit will have to wait until I finish up the stuff I vowed on already.










And last but certainly not least is the Captain that I pledged for ETL painting challenge. Hes a little rough in spots as he had quite a lot of bling poorly glued on his when I got him in a trade.








Thanks for looking, and as always comments and criticism welcome and appreciated!

Awesome work on the captian! NGL people always rave about rogue trader era models and I don't know why, the sculpts are not great compared to nowadays...

Thanks STG! I don't really get the reverence some people have for rogue trader era minis. They just look kinds blobby. I imagine its a nostalgia kinda thing for when people first got into the hobby. On the other hand while I will always have a soft spot for the box of Mordheim possessed that got me into the hobby, I certainly prefer some of the newer sculpts.

Im amazed that GW didn't have the time to even LOOK at a human when designing their old models. Even the concept art is terrible.

So last week or so has been spent trying to finish up the honor guard for the captain I did last week. Im not completely thrilled with the Apothecary, but hes the best I could make out of the limited parts I had to convert him with. Other than that I have been working on making the most of the blood angels bits I have by converting some badly painted assault marines I got off e bay. I'm blinging them up and making a 5 man unit of vanguard vets and a 5 man unit of regular assault marines. Here's some shots of the honor guard:








Here's a few close ups of the apothecary's narthecium. Not sure if I love it, but its good enough for now.





As always, thanks for looking and comments and criticism welcomed and appreciated!

The squad looks really good all together, good combination of bits! However I think the metal on their chest aquilas could do with a highlight to make them pop! White is a hard colour to paint so I wouldn't worry about the apothecary

Thanks for the feedback STG, I will try to hit the aquilas with a brighter shade of gold, see if that makes 'em pop more. I'm fairly happy with the white on the apothecary, I'm more unsure about how I scratch built his narthecium. Specifically, I'm not sure about the little dod dads on the top. I think I might pop those off and put them on the side or something.

I would invest in 32mm bases for your marines, it makes them look more imposing and a bit less squat. I did my entire 30k Raven Guard force on 32s (except the terms, dreads and flyers) and they look great.

Emberlordoffire8 I actually thought quite a bit about what size bases to use for this force. They made the switch to 32 mm shortly after I purchased the bulk of the minis, and I wasnt sure which to use. In the end I decided to stick with the bases I had already purchased, but any future marine force I do I will def be switching to 32mm.

So heres the progress I have made on the landraider. I have most of the main base coats and some of the highlights done, now I need to tackle the edge high lighting on all those red and black panels , as well as the lights and lenses etc. Speaking of which how to you all feel about the red/black ratio, does it seem pretty balanced? I thought about painting the other side doors black but I thought that might be too much.





Thanks for taking a look, comments and criticism are welcomed and appreciated!

Actually your LR colour scheme is very similar to my custom chapters (at least on the vehicles), except mine are black with orange trim.


Keep up the good work!

Also: why not do a Stormraven?

I really like the assault marines. Will you be putting iconography on the Land Raider? It's a lovely colour scheme, but it would benefit from some embellishment, I think. A bit more bling...

Thanks Corpuschain, I'm glad you like them! There is definitely more bling to be put on as I have several scrolls and such from the dark angels and black templar sprues that I have left off for ease of painting.

P.S. Emberlordoffire8, Thanks for the encouragement. I would love to see a pic of your color scheme if you could post one at some point. I haven't picked up a storm raven as alot of the stuff I have gotten for this army has either been in big box sets or second hand on e bay or craiglist. I haven't seen many storm ravens on either of those and I am loathe to pay retail for a model that expensive.

I finished the land raider over the weekend, and it now has all its bling. I was concerned about how long it would take to edge highlight this beast, but after a few minutes I realized I could just do a light dry brush on the edges and it gave me just about the right level of highlights I was looking for. Its gave the colors some depth without looking too obvious and stylized.










Thanks for taking a look, and criticism and comments welcomed and appreciated as always!

Looks killer dude, great job!

I just finished the bikers last night, and can now say I have finished my first vow for the painting comp on Bolter and chainsword! Here they are in all their glory, now to move on to some of those assault marines I got a few weeks back.







Thanks as always for taking a look, and comments and criticism are most welcome!

Does the sergeant have a Vanguard Vet shoulder pad, by any chance?

Emberlordoffire8 I'm pretty sure that came from the death company sprue. I haven't bought any actual vanguard kits, as i kitbashed mine from a bunch of old vet shoulder pads, some blood angels bits, and various normal marine bits.

Finished off my second vow for the ETL V painting challenge on Bolter and chain sword, a unit of vanguard vets. I made these guys up from a mix of various bits and a unit of assault marines I got off e bay. I was surprised I actually had enough spare veteran shoulder pads to outfit the unit! The claws, the shield, one of the hammers, and the power fist are shaved down from some terminator bits i had laying around and the other hammer is from puppets war I think. Not sure why but a lot of the reds in the pics look super saturated, they are more muted in person, pretty much the same as the rest of the minis I have painted for this project.















As always thanks for looking and comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated!!

You may want to invest in the GW Vanguard Vets box, in my opinion the greatest GW box ever! The amount of bits I have left have help me customize both my 30k and 40k armies, and I still have lots left.

EberlordofFire8 I would love to grab one of those kits, they look amazing! I am a tad cash straped at the moment, so I have been making due with what I can find cheap online. Plus I love using up some of the old bits I have in my bits trays. I am planning to due a unit of deathwatch marines at some point just to use up the five inquistion shoulder pads I have kicking around ;-)

Latest completion on the to do list is Mephiston. I've had this model for about 12 years, as I originally purchased him to be a radical inquisitor when the demon hunters book came out in 2004? He got stripped a few years ago and has languished in my to paint box ever since. ETL V gave me just the boost I needed to paint him up. I'm pleased over all with how he came out, though I may go pack and fill in the back of his base with putty as it was supposed to look like a bunch of pipes were cut off, and in reality it just looks messy. The important thing is I like the way it looks from the front. Oh, and on a another note, I picked up two of the new gem paints GW came out with. I'm still playing around with how to get the best effect out of them, but so far they are promising, especially if I ever get the eldar force I have been tinkering with up and running. Any way, heres some pics of the Lord Of Death (TM).














Thanks for looking, and as always comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated!!

Like it, the blue of the plasma pistol and conduits contrast well with the sword and armor.

Ember

Thanks EmberlordofFire8! i'm glad you like it. I'm pleased with how the army has turned out so far, and I feel like I ma in the homes stretch with this force. I have about 2.5 more tactical squads to paint, an 8 man scout squad, and a few more terminators, and thats it. i would love to be able to finish it all during the ETL V painting challenge, so I am trying to be disciplined about getting some painting time in every day. There are some more bits I would like to add to the army at some point such as a Ball predator or a techmarine with a servo harness, but I dont have the cash for them laying around so they wil be "someday" purchases. After I'm done painting what I have already got for this army I will call it "done" and move on to the rest of the tyranids, a bunch of dark eldar that I kit bashed, and one day a Cult mechanicus army I have been wanting to do for years!

I've been hard at work the past few weeks trying to finish up my third ETL V vow, and I finally finished it a few days ago. This vow was Mephiston, an assault squad, and a tactical squad. I wont bother posting more pics of Mephiston as I already have shots of him finished earlier in the thread. One of the delays with this batch was I was waiting for some of the new sector imperialis bases. The tactical squad is the first squad I have with them, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with these bases. The detail isn't as sharp as after market resin bases, but its good enough for my purposes, its easier than scratch building, and they are fairly cheap, especially by GW standards.

So heres a few shots of the completed assault squad and tactical squad:











I have also started work on my next vow, which will include a scout squad, another tactical squad, and a counts as tycho and astorath. I;ve painted up a couple of the scouts in two slightly different color schemes and was wondering if you all might let me know which you prefer. The first is a typical scheme for blood angels scouts, with khaki pants and black leather belts and pouches, the second is with black pants and brown leather belts and pouchers. I like the look of the khaki, but they look pretty much identical to regular blood angels, and I would like to have more black on them to designate the grail wardens color scheme, but I'm not sure about the one with the black pants etc. What do you guys and gals think?











As always thanks for looking, and comments, criticism, and opinions are most welcome!

tactial squad looks really good all together!

Thanks STG, I'm glad you think so. No pics with update, just thought I would pop in and apologize for not posting in a while. I got most of the scout squad done, then real life and a really nasty upper respiratory infection got in the way of painting. I am hoping that I am finally starting to feel human again after 2 weeks of fever and no energy, so I will try to get that squad finished up ASAP and get some pics up. Thanks everybody for your patience and support!

So I finally finished up the scout squad and took a few pics. I have also been working on the next tactical squad and have finished everything but the highlights, so those should be up soon.





Thanks for looking and comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated!!

Got some painting time in last night and finished up the tactical squad that was part of my last vow for ETL V vow. I only have one more tactical squad and the thats the last of the tacticals for this army. After that I have 4 or so death company, the last 2 saguinary guard, and some more terminators, and then this army will be done! I hope to be able to finish it all by the end of the year as grad school starts up again at the end of the month and painting time will be greatly reduced. I plan to get some serious painting time in this weekend to finish my counts as Astorath and Tycho to complete my last ETL vow as the competition ends 8/15. So heres some pics of the tactical squad:





















Thanks for looking and as always, comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated!

I know, no posts for like a month, then three in as many days! Deadlines do that to me and ETL V is done on monday, so I had to get the finishing touches on the last models for my vow. Heres are my kit bashed Astorath and tycho. I have kit bashed pretty much every named character I have done for this army so far, expect Mephiston and thats just because I have had that model for forever. I love how many bits from this range can be used for these kind of kit bashes. So without further ado, here they are:


















Thanks for looking and as always, comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated!

Hey y'all! Sorry its been forever since I updated this thread. With Grad school starting back up and doing an internship, painting time has been hard to come by. Plus I am a little burnt out on painting my Grail Wardens. These are some of the last miniatures for the force, the only other remaining are 4 death company and a couple of the terminators from Spacehulk. I think I'll be switching gears and focusing on something else for a while, maybe my Nids, maybe some of the backlog of fantasy stuff that I have, who knows! But for now, this is the last of the Grail wardens I will be painting up.





















Just realized looking at this guy I missed his chest eagle. Need to go back and finish that bit.
















Thank you all for the encouragement during this project, it really made it more enjoyable!