Time to start a p&m blog, and what better way to start with a brand(ish) new project? About a year ago I did a large trade with Tim of miniature-heroes.co.uk and got half a high elf blood bowl team as a part of it. Over the last year, I've managed to get the rest from eBay, by regularly checking and making reasonable offers on overpriced items. The final pieces are now stripped, and I am ready to begin painting.



I decided to go for 30mm lipped bases, as I think they look better if you are wanting to make a scenic base, due to the framing of the lip. I'm hoping to get some paint on them today, and the patter of rain on the French door suggests that it will happen. I'll get some more pictures up later, but I'm planning on very light grey robes, with caledor sky as a spot to break it up. I've no idea about what the team name will be, so suggestions are very welcome. I was thinking about 'the ulthuan ?'s' but I'm not fixed on it.

Cheers

Good luck man. Have you set yourself a date for completion or are you just going to let them take their natural course.

Also, ade you painting them individually or batch?

D

Cheers mate. I'm on half term now, and fortunately am pretty up to date on my marking, so I'm hoping to get them done this week. I'll do the preliminary undercoating and base coats together, then break them up into types for the detailing.


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So base layers are done on the whole team and look like this:


That's a black undercoat, followed by a grey one at 90degrees, and a zenith with pure white. Next thing is to coat them all in ulthuan grey, change the Cure to Covenant on the cd player, and after that I'll switch from the airbrush to a paint brush for the rest of the project.

I've done a few colours on a lineman to check how it will look. It isn't finished, the gems need doing, the base needs grassing, and few other finishing touches. It looks much better in hand, I'm still figuring out how to use my light box to get better pictures.

So here is the first one pretty much done, just the decal to add, followed by 18 layers of varnish so it will survive the game. I decided to make the unsymmetrical facial features work for me, rather than against, so he is sporting a black eye and split lip.



I thought I'd use the black background to see if it helps soften the light. As for the rest, the base layers for the skin and metal has been done, so they are moving on. It's my birthday tomorrow, and I've some assessments to mark this afternoon, so probably won't get any more done until Thursday.

Taking longer than expected, but nevermind. Here is a pic of where the team is at present


Another highlight to do on the blue before moving on to the skin. Put a 50/50 mix of black ink and water on the armour, so looking forward to seeing how that compares to nuln oil which I normally use. I'm liking how much more it reveals the details.

Managed to find this fella on ebay for a bargain price, so cleaned him up and got some paint on him so he is at the same point as the rest. Always loved this model, and he'll make a good centrepiece with high elves having no big lads to take along.

So today I attended the Meatgrinder event at warhammer world today, which was nice as I got to pick up an order to begin a new project;



which, when the big boxes were unpacked looks like this:



So I thought I'd blog it as I work on it. It didn't really happen with the bloodbowl team (still look the same as they do in the last picture), and my 31k Crimson Fists I just plain didn't want to spend the time recording or writing about working on (no reason why, just didn't feel like it). I got nine tiles, and these



Blast doors, the scribe's desk and the containment tanks. Thought some extra supplies would be needed
.

Hopefully I'll have some WIP pics soon. First though I've got three attempts at winning a titan to work on...

It has taken longer than anticipated to get started on these, but finally got them base coated;



Took 3/4 of a can to do all nine, which I was impressed with, as I needed 1.5 to spray 4'x4' of sector imperialis boards. I'm going to try and get one tile done soon to see how the colour scheme looks, before starting batch painting them.


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Quick colour test, not the best picture but the colours are clear.



I think a bit less rust, but I'm happy with the scheme. Walls are dark reaper and thunderhawk blue. Will bring out more of the details as i go. Any comments or suggestions welcome.


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Done the base layers on most of the tiles now. Used the airbrush to do the silver, coated all the sculpted tiles, then another blast in the middles and edges for an easy highlight. I started to drybrushed the walls, but ran out of dark reaper after doing six (I'd picked up eshin grey by mistake as the replacement). I'll do the rusting with ryza and doombull, then highlight with a drybrush of runefang. Typhus for some dust on the edges of walls, and get some of the details picked out.

The white room will be made dirty, I want it to be a lab where something has escaped.

The floor has been finished on six tiles now. I'll try and get some of the detailing picked out tonight. At some point I'll get alcoves painted in different colours, and some brass work picked out, but priority is getting it game ready.

Here is a closer look at the lab with the tanks and a blast door;


I need to get a coat of varnish down, the paint peels off really easily despite the undercoat.

Quick update, all walls are drybrushed, silver, rust and hazards done on the flooring.



Closer look at the floor



Next step is to varnish it so it can be used for gaming, then picking out large details such as on this one;



Then I'll start adding some variation to alcoves, some lighting, propaganda pictures etc, and start on scatter terrain to fill it up a bit.

Well, only seven months after beginning a project I intended to last a week, the high elves are finally done. I got into a grove with them this week and, with a couple hours each night, I have finally got them done. They still need numbering, and some decent pictures taking, which I'll try and get done tomorrow, but I felt compelled to share.

Right, so I'm going to take on a self imposed challenge that I will try to document here. In 6 weeks I have a big game coming up just before I get married, a hobby stag if you will. I'd like to use my Crimsons Fist 1st company (or at least my version of it.) 128 models. They all need to be tabletop to be allowed in the game. 30 are near enough done to the standard that I will eventually get them all to. That leaves near enough 100. They are in varying states;






So, six weeks, on a very limited timetable, to get 100 marines ready. The intention is to get the blue fully shaded and highlighted. Then all the basing properly done. After that, base coats on the hands, black and silver bits. That will be enough for the game. Any left over time I will do lenses, shade and highlight the base coated details etc. I'll try to get everything to at least all blue by tonight, and post an update.

Here goes...


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As hoped, I managed to get all the bare plastics undercoated, then all of the undercoated ones blue;



Placed an order today for more thinner and cleaner, the armour will probably take a good week or two (150 exams to mark doesn't help), so I'll be needing plenty. Hopefully I'll be able to get the first stage done tomorrow.

Got two layers of highlights on all of the marines done today and yesterday. One left to do;


As soon as the armour is done I'll take some better pics of units.

Horde Marines! Sounds awesome. You can do it, hammer through!

Cheers mate! I'm determined to at least get them looking reasonable on the table.

Have looked before, but I didn't reply for some reason :/

Look forward to the project! Crimson Fists are my SM as well, and to see such a massed force doesn't happen every day.

Good luck and I look forward to more updates.

Cheers WB Dakka, I'll try to keep it as regular as I can. I'll get the painted ones out as well so you can see the end result I'm working towards, and see the full company in all its glory.


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I've done the final highlight on the armour on them all. After I did a qc check on them all and touched up a few runs with a regular brush. Just gloss varnished them all. Next time I get to them I'll pin wash, then matt varnish. It's too dark to be able to take even a half decent pic of glossy marines, so when they are matt again I'll take some then. I'll do some separate units so you can see what's in the army, and if I have the energy maybe a bit of fluff to go with them.

Quick update, poor picture unfortunately;


It's not clear in the pic, but the pin washing is done, matt is down and they have all been glazed with blue ink to help blend the highlights in and darken the overall colour. I'm pleased with the results given how long I have spent on them. 32 bases base coated in steel legion drab, about 70 left to do :(

These arrived today in the post, so once the bases are done they will go straight on and make the models look deceptively close to finished with just a couple of base coats on the model to break up the colour.


I'll post again when the bases are all done with individual unit pics, including the already finished units that haven't been in the pics so far.

Thanks for looking, and comments are welcome

Right then, a long overdue update! All the basing is done, and grass tufts on everything except guys with loin cloths. All the crimson is on, and I have started applying the black, by far the most labour intensive step, I anticipate at least a week just on this. That will still leave me three weeks to do the silver, then as much more detail as I can. I'm really please with how quickly they have come on, and how good they are starting to look. I'm itching to move on (everything to complete another project is ordered and on way, tbc between the game and the wedding, and I've started plotting a one week new army project for summer). So, rather than a big group shot, here are a few individual units to give you an idea. Apologies for the poor quality pics, there isn't enough room for the lightbox out with 100 marines on one table the the ZM tiles on the other. Comments very welcome, as is some support

Warders/Honour guard


Command squad


Sternguard


Seekers/tactical squad


Assault marines


Fists? Don't Fists use devastators...

I have a unit of missile launchers as well, but they are finished and still in the case.

Miscellaneous


The twins



So you may have noticed that a lot of the models are BaC marines. This was a deliberate choice as it made the army much cheaper, but also allowed me to use it as a second founding army (led by Polux), or as a 40k army (led by Kantor) immediately after the destruction on Rynn, and having to reuse antique weapons and armour after the loss of the main armoury. I have shown both Kantor and Polux in the P/M showcase, but have some much better pics of Polux that I never posted. I'll put them here as starting another thread for a model I've already shown there seems abit much. Hope you like him...

Been a little while since my last post, but I have been painting as much as I have been able. I'm about half way through the black layering now, and it is taking around ten minutes a model to do. I have about 55 more to do to complete the step on them all. The pile on the right are still to do, and the rest are done. Realistically, I think it will be at least another week until the current step is complete. The good news is that after then, my available time will dramatically increase, and the pace will pick up again.






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Also, it occurred to me that the army was missing some psychic support. I picked up the librarian from the deathwatch game, and with a little jiggery-pokery with the hobby knife and bitz box, made him more suitable for the army. Splashed enough paint on him to get him to the same point as the rest, except for the base, which I sanded earlier today.

Looking good man. I love your version of Pollux. It's a great model and perfect for Crimson Fists.

Awesome work dude. Really nice stuff, love all the subtle conversions, especially your captain from the B@C Chaplain.

EDC

Super cool, good looking army.

Love it this looks great!

Cheers everyone. It's a shame that the pictures are terrible, but as soon as the term is over I'll be able to get the light box out and get more at the quality of the polux shots.

Cheers EDC for the compliment. Back in the 90's I was heavily in to converting. I don't do much now as time is so limited, but I try to do something now and again to remind myself that I can. My grey knight grand master from the BAC praetor (pics in gallery) is one of my recent favourites. Shame Gk gm's never get used, but nevermind .

I picked up a pot of the gw gloss wash today to experiment with for the next next project (got a secret one to finish after this one), and whilst playing with it finished one guy to the standard I'm working towards for the game;



I think he is my favourite, and the only bare headed marine in the army (it was too good a head not to use). His helmet has a bullet hole in the appropriate location

After summer I'll spend the long evenings finishing the highlights and other details on them all, but for the game this point will be perfect for the tabletop. By the sounds of it, it won't be the only full company on the table.

Can't wait

Nice stuff man. Loving the painting quality.

Cheers bud. I'd love to have the time and patience to paint every thing to the best of my ability, it's been a balancing act between quickest time per mini, and actually being happy with the results. I'm a little worried about the transfers, I picked up the last ever FW A4 sheet, and it was faulty, and I haven't had much luck with the citadel ones going on cleanly either. I've got all the potions to do it, and I've put them on many times before. Just not working out well on these guys :(.

Now, the stormtalon, I have been putting full effort into, I'll hold on posting pics until it is finished (don't expect it soon, but it will happen ) but I think you are going to like it...


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Quick progress update; 29 Marines left to do on the black stage. That's the last quarter

Quick update, unfortunately no pictures, the black stage is all done now! Finally I can move on to the silver. I've also put a few transfers on, so I'll aim to get those on too. After tomorrow my work load will decrease massively, so I will be able to get more done quickly. I'll get some pictures taken over the weekend for a proper update. Hopefully some units will become table ready by then.

Cheers.

The long summer nights, whilst beautiful for long runs, and sipping wines and coffees on the balcony, are making my attempts at photography impossible. I'll try and stay up late enough to get some pictures that I can post tomorrow, but here is the "done pile" so far;



Where possible, they all have icons and squad marking, and are starting to look pretty good! I took my time with the banner, which you can just see at the back. I'll get a better pic soon, as I'm pretty pleased with him. I'm 95% confident in full completion by the deadline; it's my stag this weekend, but have four evenings and Mon&Tues next week, and I think 55 bods left to do...

Good luck painting after a stag due mate. It's really fun.

Yeah. Just gonna write the whole weekend off. I'm expecting to be aching also on Sunday from paint balling. Apparently I'm a one man team.


Just waiting on the pics loading up as I write


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As promised, some better pics! (Apart from the grav devs, whose pics where so poor I just deleted them)

Assault squad


Head shot Hernandez



Tactical squad two.


The tactical squads, having recently been promoted to 1st company, have yet to repaint their right gauntlets. This is due their shame around the circumstances of their elevation, and, until they believe that they have earned the right to re-paint, will maintain the blue.


Terminator assault suad





Devs w hvy bolters




Pedro Kantor's command squad



Warders/honour Guard/ Command Squad



"The Fallen of Rynn"


Pedro Kantor's personal banner, bearing every single name of each the 700 Crimson Fists who died in the invasion of Rynn. Half of the space is taken by those who died. The other half left blank for those yet to join them.


Just for anyone who hasn't read previous posts, these have been finished to table top for an upcoming game, they will be properly finished after. More to come over the next nine days.

Quick update, I couldn't get any pictures taken of the squads I have competed since the last one. My missus has been very patient and understanding of my spending so much time in the spare room these last six weeks, but she drew the line at me spending the late hours last night photographing and uploading. That does mean though more pics at once, hopefully tonight. Since the last update, I have done two sort of sternguard units (I'll explain the sort of with the images), an assault squad, a plasma devastator squad, and the imperial space marine. I'm half way through the lascannon devs as well, thanks to not being able to drop off last night. I've got an early finish and a few hours to myself tonight, so hopefully might be able to get another squad done as well. The transfers are slowing me down (gloss, decal prep, setting, two coats of micro sol, and then two coats of matt, then a tidy up) but it is worth it as it really does make them look finished from a distance.

More to come later tonight (hopefully!)

Right then, a few more pictures!

Assault Squad 2



Plasma Devastators



Lascannon Devastators



Beaky Sternguard. These veterans refused the ornamentation of their replacement armour after the destruction of Rynn, too ashamed of their failure. Only their pauldrons and wargear set them apart from their tactical brothers.





Grav Sternguard. This unit was on secondment to the deathwatch during the attack. Kantor forbade them from abandoning their armour as their veteran brother's did. Brother Mexicansoundingname shattered his honourary pauldron to atone for not being present to defend his home (aka only had four dw pads).





and a couple of stragglers...



19 marines left to do! Another 10 man cheeky sternguard unit (i.e. sterngaurd bolters and fancy pauldrons on tactical marines), a melta sternguard unit (proper) and a multimelta devastator squad. Hopefully I'll get that done Monday.

Very cool. Love the bleeding head dude.

EDC

 evildrcheese wrote:
Very cool. Love the bleeding head dude.

EDC

Cheers mate . Normally I am very anti bare head on marines, but that one was just too good not to use. Shame you can't see the bullet hole in his helmet, can't get a decent angle with the camera.

not gonna lie, i'm very impressed your sticking to your deadlines, the quality is really good too!

Nice stuff mate. For the banner bearer, please tell me that writing on the right side of it is a transfer.

I really like the colour of the plasma, it's one of my favourite ways to paint it as well.

Very impressed! Look forward to seeing them if all goes well.
Is that the anniversary marine I see? I'm pretty awful with telling them apart, apologies if it's not.


Btw I thoroughly recommend the "LE Dimmable LED Desk Lamp" you can get on uk Amazon. You can pose it almost infinitely and it's helped my photos (and last minute painting) thirty fold because you can light under the models. I keep it in my gaming bag.

STG wrote:not gonna lie, i'm very impressed your sticking to your deadlines, the quality is really good too!

Cheers bud! Not been easy, but having others doing similar for the same game has helped keep the motivation going. I just wish I had an extra week to do the eye lenses, that would have just finished them off a treat. Still pleased though.

WarbossDakka wrote:Nice stuff mate. For the banner bearer, please tell me that writing on the right side of it is a transfer.

I really like the colour of the plasma, it's one of my favourite ways to paint it as well.

Thanks again for the regular encouragement, it's made taking the time to keep up the blog worth it. It's the colchisian scripts from the BaC set, 3.5 of them.

I don't understand glowing cooling pipes, it's just asking to roll 1's...

Buttery Commissar wrote:Very impressed! Look forward to seeing them if all goes well.
Is that the anniversary marine I see? I'm pretty awful with telling them apart, apologies if it's not.


Btw I thoroughly recommend the "LE Dimmable LED Desk Lamp" you can get on uk Amazon. You can pose it almost infinitely and it's helped my photos (and last minute painting) thirty fold because you can light under the models. I keep it in my gaming bag.

Hopefully they will be on your side! Not sure they'd last long against the reaver ha ha! Yeah it's the 30th anniversary model, the 25th is the last to be done, but probably won't be there for the game as I want to take my time on him.

I'll look into the lamp, cheers First payday after the wedding is all going on hobby stuff. Might take the plunge into titan territory myself

Stag do starts in 15 mins, so that's me done for the weekend!

With a full day to spare, the 1st company (or at least my vision of it) of the Crimson Fists are ready for Wednesday's game;



I haven't taken individual shots of the units I have completed since the last update as frankly I need to lie down, but I plan on getting some on the table on Weds that will do them more justice. Suffice to say I'm done with blue for a while, I'll come back to them in winter and complete the finishing touches, and add some vehicles.

I'm pleased with the results I managed to achieve in seven weeks, especially when balanced against my work, planning a wedding, running three times a week to look good for the wedding snaps, and general living. Thanks to those who have been following.

Coming next, finishing off a sneaky 1k army I've quietly been working on, then an Iron Warriors 30k army that I might try and do in a week.

Thanks for looking, I'll be sure to post some pics of the game on Thursday.

An impressive feat! how many models total is that?

Cheers . Should be 128 marines, the exact number of the cf 1st company (or within one or two, I've added and taken away since starting). The chaplain seems to have run away, I'm probably going to replace him with a 40k one anyway.

Got this fella table ready today as well to join the party. He's been sat on my painting table for nearly a year just begging for more than a silver base coat;



Or



As I've magnetized him for all options. He needs properly finishing, but with my paladin he'll add some much needed vehicular support.

I don't understand how this is possible, but I've witnessed it with my own eyes. Well done for finishing the army, it's been great to follow.

I also laughed at "an Iron Warriors army in a week". I can barely do a unit in that time

If you don't mind saying, how much time do you dedicate to painting? I might not be doing as much as I should.

Ha ha, cheers Warboss. Normally I try to do half an hour every evening. Over the last few weeks that has been pushed up to probably an hour, and more at the weekend. Not sleeping well has helped get more done. I've got all the tools I need to get on with things efficiently, and I try to work efficiently (must be my childhood in Germany kicking in), so I don't waste much time. That and I have been lucky enough to work with a few professional painters in the past and so picked up a few tips on how to cut corners without too much compromise. I get most of my hobby satisfaction from completing a project, so that helps motivate me.

If you ever plan a trip to Whw let me know, we'll have a Crimson Fist civil war

Thanks for the comments as well

As I said previously, I've been working on a sneaky little army that is completely different to all my others; a highly mobile craftworld/corsair Eldar army.



The prince/farseer wip



They were painted very quickly, a unit from start to finish in one sitting. They were only intended to be a decent tabletop standard, and to practice airbrushing a bit more. I used de scourge heads on the guardians, and sister of slaughter heads on the seers. I'll get some better pics taken after the wedding, and might see about putting some transfers on to break up the pink.

I love the design of the hornets. I don't know what it is about them but they're some of my favourite Eldar models.

Also, the Spear on that Farseer is really well done

Cheers warboss. The hornets are some of my favourite models,and they were a breeze to paint. I was quite pleased with spear, although they think that the picture looks a little better than the reality, a few cock ups not revealed.

So, now that I'm a married man, it's time to start a new army, and what better symbolism of wedded bliss is there than the implacable will of the iron warriors? She didn't buy that either, but nay mind...

So over the last few weeks I've quietly bought the beginnings of a 30k army, and updated my red books;



I had planned on trying to do this in a week, which would have been achievable, but I've decided that I am going to take my time and have a nicely painted table top army instead. I'm going to start by head swapping the praetor, and building the termis as siege tyrants, I picked up some cyclone missile launchers on eBay. I'll get some wip shots up over the next few days, I've got roughly a million thank you letters to write to roughly one million amazing people who made our wedding day an amazing experience

Congratulations! Sounds like you had a great time. However, I bet that the haul there was hard to hide from the lucky one

Good luck writing the thank you letters!

Cheers mate, it was an amazing day! Luckily I don't have to hide anything, she's exactly the same with her clothes.

Done about half of the letters, other half still to go...

 JamesY wrote:
Cheers mate, it was an amazing day! Luckily I don't have to hide anything, she's exactly the same with her clothes.

Sounds about right

First siege tyrant finished. Hopefully the rest will be done tomorrow as I only have the shoulder pads to finish.

Love it, that guy looks great.

Cheers

Damn you're prolific. Eldar look cool.

Nice work on the test Iron Warrior, very swanky.

EDC

Ha ha, thanks edc. I have been doing the Eldar since Easter, just a box at a time whilst working on other things. The IW will keep me busy for the next few weeks

Siege tyrant looks great!

Thanks mate, I'm pretty pleased with it.

Man, that metal is looking so smooth! Nice work.

Cheers mate, Vallejo steel and leadbelcher as a highlight, gloss nuln oil and the job's done.

The unit is done now, and 30 bodies have just been sprayed black...


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So here is a rather poor picture taken on my new Fire;



I'm really pleased with the unit. The basing tones rather than contrasts with the scheme, that is so they fit with the zone mortalis boards I'm pretending are finished. I like the dark and brooding feel it gives them as well, it adds to their dower persona. The 30 calth marines are all prepared in sub assemblies and primed black. The iron warriors upgrade heads were too fancy to pass up, so twenty of them are primed and ready for some silver in the morning!


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So, having done some reading and practising with the camera, I have a much better picture of the siege tyrants;



Not perfect, but much better. Not sure how I feel about the label, but I might stick with it and see if it grows on me. I haven't been idle since my last post, it's just that I've had less time than expected since the wedding, and they are also taking longer than expected. All 30 bases are done for the tactical marines, and the silver is done on them all. I've focused on a squad of ten, and all that is left to do it the pauldrons and bolters. The IW helmets are a joy to paint, hopefully when I get back from the honeymoon in over a week I'll get the unit done and photographed.

Cheers!

They're some nice bases you got there. Did you make them yourself or are they resin ones? Lovely work once again.

Cheers bud, they are the new sector imperialis bases. Very nice to paint, and much better than the resin kit they did previously (my legion of the damned are mounted on them). It is a tad painful having to commit to 3 different boxes to do the BaC box, but you do get a lot so they will last a while.

Siege termies look great. I'm also a convert to the sector imperialis bases, but I can't resist adding bits to them, which also helps them tie into my existing basing style.

EDC

Cheers EDC. I may add some details to bases once the core 2k list is done. It's already moving far slower than intended. I'll be home in a few days though, and will get the first tactical squad done and posted.

Them's some particularly Bay-tastic Iron Warriors ('splosions!).

Nice work JamesY

Cheers AoV, there are definitely some splosions in the pipeline

Can't resist sharing this that I took before leaving. It was just on the camera phone and the flash has burned out the yellow and bronze hues and the lense detailing, but you get the idea. Transfers will go on when I get to whw later in the week and buy a few more units to join the pile of iron.

Let me know what you think, hopefully the full squad will be fully done and photographed by the end of the week

Got back from honeymoon last night, popped to forge world this morning, and finished the tactical squad this afternoon. The transfers where a joy to put on compared to the fists. Still not quite got the hang of the photography, but it's all practice I suppose. Any way, tactical squad #1;



Next up will be something special, either a quad mortar squad (x2), a medusa, a vindicator, or a bike squad. Any preferences feel free. Unfortunately they didn't have a Proteus in stock other wise that would have been an option, and I'm going to hold back on the iron circle for now...

Here is the first bit of artillery, the vindicator. I picked up a few rolls of masking tape today so will do the shield in the future, but not sure if I'd put it on for 30k gaming;




I've also made this unit yesterday;


I had planned on using the FW bikes, but I didn't realise that they are on the scout biker sprue, which messed up my plans for matching attack bikes. So instead I picked up two boxes of chaos bikers, spent hours scraping the spikes off, and bought a MKII tactical squad with the saved money

I did take more pictures whilst working on the unit which I will post soon, the buzzer is about to go on a roast dinner I'm making. They will have to wait until after another tactical squad gets finished before seeing any paint though.

Let me know what you think

Nice Vindicator there! I prefer the Vindi without the shield, and if you don't use it in 30k you can leave it off. It is a good enough excuse to practice with masking tape techniques, which is always welcomed.

Only at FW can you get two squads of GW Bikes and a Tac squad for less than the FW Bikes

Thought I'd stop by, and I'm not disappointed - those Iron Warriors look fantastic so far!

Cheers fellas

@WBD yeah I'm looking forward to experimenting with the tape, bought 10mm and 2mm, so should help with the chervons.
It's amazing how cheap citadel seems by comparison, but I want to get a decent balance between the two so it looks "right". I've got the thirty tactical marines from the BaC set, and mkii, mkiii, and mkii assault squads waiting in the wings (saving the best til last), so hopefully will look good together.

@GA cheers bud! Glad you like 'em, I'm pretty pleased myself

I figured it was probably about time to get some proper masking tape for chevroning beyond knee pads, so here is the first attempt at something a tiny bit tricky;



turned out like this



Pretty pleased with the results of a first go.

I've never seen such high detail masking. Great stuff!

Can I ask where you found that great masking tape? That stuff would be extremely useful for the pinstripes I'm trying to do on the trousers of my Ork Freebooterz, since I've failed to achieve a good look for them so far.

Words cannot describe how awesome that cloak looks with such straight stripes

Cheers both . It's really easy to apply and work with.

@ga I bought it in gee dee models in Nottingham. They have a webstore. It's 2mm, and you get two rolls for £1.50. I'd check out any model stores near you first though as anywhere that sells model trains planes and automobiles will sell it.

 General Annoyance wrote:
Can I ask where you found that great masking tape? That stuff would be extremely useful for the pinstripes I'm trying to do on the trousers of my Ork Freebooterz, since I've failed to achieve a good look for them so far.

Words cannot describe how awesome that cloak looks with such straight stripes

He will. If you update your own P&M blog with the results

 WarbossDakka wrote:

 General Annoyance wrote:
Can I ask where you found that great masking tape? That stuff would be extremely useful for the pinstripes I'm trying to do on the trousers of my Ork Freebooterz, since I've failed to achieve a good look for them so far.

Words cannot describe how awesome that cloak looks with such straight stripes

He will. If you update your own P&M blog with the results

Definitely! We want to see these stylish, pin stripe wearing Orks

 JamesY wrote:

 WarbossDakka wrote:

 General Annoyance wrote:
Can I ask where you found that great masking tape? That stuff would be extremely useful for the pinstripes I'm trying to do on the trousers of my Ork Freebooterz, since I've failed to achieve a good look for them so far.

Words cannot describe how awesome that cloak looks with such straight stripes

He will. If you update your own P&M blog with the results

Definitely! We want to see these stylish, pin stripe wearing Orks

Just after I updated the blog? How convenient!

Consider it done my friends - if I can find this tape soon enough, I'll get a few done in a week or so. Does this tape have a brand or is it unmarked/generic?

G.A

Thank you good sir! I shall get some off Maplin tomorrow - expect those fancy Freebooterz soon

G.A

A few more pics;


You might note the tiny servo arm for wysiwyg purposes



And everything that is painted so far;



That's the backbone done. Now for the fun stuff did the silver on 5 bikes and an attack bike today. After them, artillery time!

Let me know what you think, or any suggestions you might have

Cheers

Such a lovely and clean paintjob!

Do you plan on any attempt to clean the mould lines without damaging the Praetor model, and are you going to drill the gun barrels?

G.A

Nah, I'm not hard on myself over mould lines. If I miss one I miss one, they don't bother me too much. I tend to be a better aim with a black blob than a drill tbh, so I don't often drill out barrels. Time is too short and the grey pile too big.

Thanks for the compliments also, I'm thinking of making the older armour marks a bit more battered to make them look long serving, but might keep up the clean look they have so far. Decisions ha ha...


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Also, do they show up better on the black or white background?

 JamesY wrote:

Also, do they show up better on the black or white background?

I'd say white, since in the black one it looks like the light level is just ruining the camera quality - I can see the detail much more clearly with the white background

Thanks for the input. I agree that the detail is easier to see. Just took a couple of pictures of things I painted a couple of years ago, I'll put them here as I don't want to start new threads in showcase too much, but I might have a look through the cases and see if anything wants taking to break up the iron warriors abit, I think I'll be painting them for a while.

One of my all time favourite models;



And something based on my love of bioshock, I was going for the "under the sea" look, hence the reverse blue highlights;

Iron Warriors are looking awesome, you've got some serious skills for masking!

EDC

Cheers edc, so far only the praetor has had masking tape, every thing else was by hand. The bikers will be an interesting unit as lots of difficult panels to get into. We'll see if my masking skills are any good very soon

Force is looking great, keep it up

I don't know many people who would agree with you on Abaddon, but I think he's a great model also (just as long as he stays together!).

Great work as usual!

Cheers both I'm really enjoying working on them so far. Hopefully that will continue as I've plenty more to get through.

@WBD I know what you mean, although I think I love the model out of nostalgia as much as anything, I bought him on his original release day as I thought it was one of the best sculpts I'd ever seen (at that point of course).

Anyway, on to the bikes. I thought I should probably do some wip shots as this is a blog. So, two boxes of chaos bikers, and an attack bike. The marine bike will go in the sprue box and, when a few others join it they'll go to the crimson fists. A bit of work and a few 30k upgrades will hopefully make them look the part.

So, to get rid of all the spiky bits, I used all of the following tools, and I'd consider all of them essential to do a decent job;


All the spikes in circles need to go;


Lots of shaving, scoring alongside trims, filing and buffing with the emery board and they look a little more Imperial. I've left the skull on the handle guard as it looks like the IW death mask, but if you wanted to remove it it'd be easy enough to file off.



Glued together;


A few spares from the BaC box;


With the attack bike side car attached, I picked up the pintle mounted heavy weapons for the proper era multi melta;


Bikers and attack bike together;


So, right now all the sub-assemblies are together, silver is down, tires are done, and the bases have been started. I'm back to work on Monday and away for the weekend, so progress will slow down unfortunately.

A few more wip shots of the bikers, I'm having a lot of fun with them so far;

The bases

The bikes are all at this point



Most of the base layers are down, and the beginnings of some weathering around the engine block, exhaust and suspension have been applied.

First test of some hazard lines;





Still a long way to go on them, but I'm pleased with the way they are shaping up. Hope you like them so far

The unit is finally finished! After what feels like a millennium, here we are;









Overall very pleased, although I think the mustard shoulder pads will have to grow on me.

Time to take a break from the citadel rubbish, and bring out the proper stuff now that the core is done! So I ask you, a pair of quad mortars next, or a pair of medusas? It'll be all fw for a while now, with three foot units, two artillery units, two tanks, and a big robot all waiting in line...

Hope you like the bikes

Medusas please! And those Bikes look awesome!

Cheers GA

I've just enjoyed a very pleasant unwind from school by building the following;



Hopefully I'll be able to get them base coated tomorrow.

Damn, I've missed a lot of progress on this blog. Sorry for not commenting for a while!

Great models, but I never realized 30k armies had access to Attack Bikes. I always found it a more "modern" SM model.

Despite what was initially said about them, I'm getting more and more convinced about those moulded bases. The internet was convinced that they were rubbish, but looks like a bit of paint on them sets them off, especially when you do a great job of them like you have here

 WarbossDakka wrote:
Despite what was initially said about them, I'm getting more and more convinced about those moulded bases. The internet was convinced that they were rubbish, but looks like a bit of paint on them sets them off, especially when you do a great job of them like you have here

I quite like them in general, provided they are fairly flat, of course. The key to any base is to make sure it doesn't overpower the model sitting on it, and JamesY has managed to keep the focus on the Bikes rather than the bases because they're both flat and well shaded.

It's refreshing to see it - most people jam some ridiculously bright lava base that elevates the model about a thousand feet into the air and completely ruins the good paintjob they did. Keep keeping it simple JamesY!

@wbd cheers pal. The detail on the bases is shallow, but that is only really apparent on the skulls. They are a joy to paint.

Reg attack bikes, I plan on doing a full unit of 5 at some point, I've got to do one with an autocannon

@GA you aren't wrong. It's great to do really detailed bases every now and again, but I don't like it too much on full armies, unless it is done to tie into a table.

Thanks both for the compliments

Gotta love the Legion tanks . Love the artillery units!

Not seen IW bikes before, nice work with them

Cheers AoV they are a bit on the beautiful side, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into them.

Bikers look ace! Cannot wait to see what you do with the thud guns!

EDC

Thanks EDC. I'm looking forward to getting some paint on them and seeing how they come out. After that, just one squad and a hq, and my 2k ironfire list is ready to blitz the table

It's been a while since the last update, apologies for that. Back to work means little painting time, but things have been happening;



Everything, including crew and parts not in the picture have had the iron body work finished, and black bits blackened. Moving on to the copper details next. It's going to be a slow burn I fear, but I'll get more pics up when there is more worth seeing.

Cheers

Bringing in the big guns? I like it

Look forward to seeing them all finished up.

Yeah me too, at the rate I'm going it'll take forever.

Gotta have the big guns been eyeing up bigger, but can't decide on which one. I've got a spare baneblade to make a shadowsword for when I get my hands on Perturabo, but not sure if something else might be preferable for smaller games.

I don't think people would be even surprised anymore if you wanted to take a Shadowsword to a game with the amount of super heavies knocking about recently. Especially if there is a fluffy reason behind it.

As an IG player from the start of my venture into this hobby, big guns always make me all tingly inside will be waiting for more - very patiently, of course

A Shadowsword would be nice, but I don't think you can beat a classic Baneblade

Tbh the shadowsword would probably never see the table, I prefer 1k games as they are quick to play, but it will go well as a part of the collection as it's Pert's pimpmobile.

I do have a baneblade, been used in all of one game... Great model though.

Hopefully I won't keep you waiting too long

You can always play them using Escalation... I guess... The only Superheavies I have gotten a hold of are two Knights, which aren't mine.

I'm a very slow painter at the moment, so it'd be hypocritical of me to tell you to hurry up so I can see more.

*taps feet furiously*

I rarely buy based on gaming, I try to paint most days and game less than monthly, so I tend to go for things that interest me to paint, I probably wouldn't bother with the shadowsword if I didn't already have the model, the legion ones just so much nicer.
Hopefully more gaming soon when the army is painted to 2k. A friend of mine has a stunning word bearers army, so I'm hoping for a game soon that I can photograph and maybe try writing a batrep.

I'd like to hurry up believe me, it's all this marking getting in the way

I am also the same - I've only just re-entered the gaming side of miniature wargaming, and I'm certainly not jumping back in to fully fledged 40k; Kill Team is enough for me and my slow and small painting hands.

That being said, at least you have the luxury of taking your time - I have to have finished this Tau Start Collecting set by October 16th for a casual tournament. So far I've only got half a test model painted

Would love to see a batrep with your army and those Word Bearers colliding - will stay tuned

G.A

Deadlines are good! They motivate you to get on with it, scroll back a few pages and you can see that an eight week deadline helped me paint a full company of Crimson Fists.

Put up your test model when you have finished, would be good to see

His wb were in warhammer visions a while back, I'll have a dig and see if I can find them...


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Found a couple of wip shots of the attack bike that I thought worth sharing;


And another which hints at how future ones could look;

That is extremely impressive - I only have 3 units to do and I'm wetting myself in fear

I should have the test model up by tomorrow, if I can keep to a damn schedule for once. Then it's batch painting from there and crossed fingers that it all gets done before the 16th.

Do post that Visions article in your next update if you can - I've never bought it before

Liking that Autocannon conversion - I've always found the Attack Bike to be funny to look at, and that Autocannon makes it no better still a lovely model though

Awesome, the attack bikes look really cool.

EDC

Very cool stuff. I'm impressed with how the bases look, as well as the paintjob on the models.

Thanks both

@kakita I'm really impressed with the bases, they paint up nicely. It was a bit painful spending £60 on bases, but they go a long way and are definitely worth the extra cash.

Got a little more paint on today;



Went with a little more weathering on the mortar, which I may continue with on the rest of the army. There are so many little details to work on that they will still take a will, but they deserve the time I think

They're going well so far

Definitely take your time if it needs it - a single model painted at your best is always better than 10 painted below your ability.

Until you collect Orks, of course

Cheers GA. I'd love to paint everything to the best of my ability, but if I did I'd never finish anything (not that I'm saying my best is particularly good, just time consuming). Perturabo will get my best efforts though...

And I do have an ork army, but the 1k list has only 15 models

That sounds like a very confused Ork list

Perturabo will be a spectacle to behold I'm sure!

Ha ha 9 kanz, 3 dredz, 1 Morkanaught and 2 meks. Before the new codex a mega armoured boss took the points the morka and meks now use.

My birthday is towards the end of the month. I'm hoping pert will be in attendance

Hi,

Managed to get the hazards on the second medusa and quad mortar;



and a bit more done on the crew;



Seeing the two medusas' coming together is making me want a third

Next job is the armoured housing for the mortars, and the interior details. That'll probably happen on Saturday as have a day to myself, and a job list that's longer than a Leonard Cohen song to do before doing any more (points for noticing the Thick of It reference...)

Hope everyone is well

3 is the magic number for tanks, but 2 should be fine for now.

Hazard stripes looking great again as well

Thanks

I agree, but in game I'm hoping two should be enough... I'll get around to a third in the distant future, after some resin troops, maybe a flyer, and definitely after some robotnics

After a ridiculously stressful day, I left earlier than intended for some relaxing hobby time, and managed to get some base layers down on the medusa crew and interiors;



Progress is slowly but surely happening

I've also assembled some of my recently delivered infinity models, and can't wait to get painting them, after the artillery and a unit of havocs are done, of course...

Everyone make an orderly que behind the Warriors please. You will be seen to eventually.

Hopefully you won't be having as many stressful days in the future. They get to ya after a while

ha ha, the queue is getting longer and longer...

And thanks. Stress is an unfortunate part of the profession, but yesterday was a rare one. 11 hours none stop (no exaggeration) , with only a five minute window with which to address a sandwich. It's fine though, had an early finish today to make up for it, and got some more paint down on the medusa crew

That's some serious iron resolve you got there. At least you got an early finish out of it, rather than another full day to get through.

Definitely got to have iron within! I had to go back in this evening for the little yr6's open evening, but it was nice to get a few quiet hours at home.

I'd be interested to see some of your collection bud, if you are ever inclined to post some pictures

 JamesY wrote:
I'd be interested to see some of your collection bud, if you are ever inclined to post some pictures

Yes please W.D: show us what you got!

Making good progress by the way JamesY - sorry to hear recent happenings have been stressful. I can't paint after anything stressful - to me painting is a stressful (but rewarding) exercise

Cheers G.A. It wasn't actually anything deserving of sympathy, just one of those days where lots of things that have been worked on need to happen immediately, meaning there isn't a second to spare or waste. What did me in was hours of work and effort wasted by pupil apathy, not the work itself.

Hopefully I might be able to get the medusas done on Saturday. I'm also going to go over to Whw for a much deserved treat.

Sounds good - you might even be able to catch Armies on Parade while you're there!

I'm jealous

I forgot about AoP

Should be interesting, the staff boards might be out first thing if nothing else.

Haha, don't remind me. :(
I didn't realise how competitive the staff are with AoP, so now I sincerely feel like whatever I do is fairly pointless. My local manager was like "...Oh, you didn't know that, did you?" and very sympathetic.

Loving the recent dudes, and those interior details!

Sweet. The medusas are looking awesome, the work on the interiors is looking great!.

EDC

Cheers BC, I'm looking forward to getting those terminal displays looking sharp I was thinking about adding some games of naughts and crosses on the sides from when the lads get bored...
Yeah they take it seriously, but the H/Q staff get the stuff for free with the caveat that they have to pay for it if it isn't ready, so they are encouraged into that attitude. Helps create a good competitive element for them. Shouldn't spill out of the office though.

Cheers EDC! Hopefully the end result will be worth the effort. I'm not sure whether or not to do a little weathering on them or not. The units are pretty clean, so not sure how well too much would fit.

I also mean with the boards themselves... Mine's a RoB compatible flat-ish thing... And then I was shown past staff stuff that's taller than it is wide, with working lamps and waterfalls, and I feel like maybe I'm gonna put mine under the table instead of on it...

What you have done so far looks fantastic, don't be put off!

Ahh, I'm still working on techniques for painting so they look up to scratch. Maybe in the future, but currently I'm still getting to where I want to be.

Speaking of which, I did just get my hands on some Deathwatch recently, so a P&M blog may be coming up sooner than I may have realised...

Look forward to seeing them. We're all still trying to improve, and you'd be surprised how much you naturally up your game when you are painting something you intend to showcase. Don't be afraid to share your skills

Crew done;

I think the best part of your Iron Warriors is that lovely sheen you get on all the metal, despite it being oily. Excellent work

Some of the best Iron Warriors I've seen IMO.

Lovely work!

Thanks both, means a lot . I wish the pictures did them justice, so many little touches that I can't seem to capture with the camera.

Anyway, interiors;

 JamesY wrote:
Crew done;

Ah, the old iron warriors artillery crew initiation ritual!

@joyboozer Haha! I can't unsee that now! Iron within...

Hazard lines beginning...

Looks like those Hazard Stripes are going to be pretty big Do you use an airbrush, or do you just paint yellow in the unmasked areas?

I put xv-88 as a basecoat on with a brush, and for these I have used an airbrush for the yellow. The rest of the army I've used a bristle brush for the whole process as it means less masking other details.

Looking good James. They're almost done it seems!

Cheers WBD, near enough...



Unfortunately the superglue has died, so I can't properly assemble them right now, but you get the idea

I'm going to do a little weathering, exhaust fumes, blacken the cannon end, dust etc when I can, then crack out the lightbox for some proper pictures.

Damn! Those crew holding the shells love awesome.

Great work on the medusas overall, really striking models.

EDC

Hazard stripes looking good. Is the IW symbol a transfer?

Thanks EDC! I'm pretty pleased with them so far. Hopefully the weathering will enhance them a little.

@WBD yeah it's from the FW sheet. The graphics on those things are stunning, I'll probably end up with three command squads just so that I can use all the banner decals.


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A couple of pics of the factory finished pieces, before I get some dirt on them;







Hopefully by the end of next week they'll be done and properly photographed. Then the quad mortars' crew need finishing, which shouldn't take too long as most of the work is done, it's just all the finishing touches. Then just a ten man autocannon havoc squad and a HQ and I have a 2k list to play with

Medusas are done:









All comments and suggestions are welcome, as would be a vote on the labelled pic

Looking nice, dropped a vote for ya on the gallery.

Cheers bud appreciated.

A whole week with no painting, until today

Quad mortar crew done;





The bases for the second crew member are just waiting for the varnish to dry before they can be glued down and the unit is finished! I'll follow up with the proper pictures when they are done, hopefully tomorrow

The medusas look fantastic, the chevrons came out so well man!

Looking good JamesY. Having them stuck together will make them look even better!

@Bottle thanks for dropping in and taking a look, and cheers!

@WBD thanks bud, all done;







And an artillery group shot:


So, only one unit and one character left to complete my 2k list. Now, the unit is a ten man havoc squad with autocannons (saved the best 'til last!). Now, I have ten mkii models, and ten mkiii models. Also, ten autocannons and ten phoboes bolters. I can't decide whether to do all mkii for the havocs, or mix them up and do five of each for some variety. Any input would be appreciated

Let me know what you think, and thanks for looking.

Looking fantastic JamesY; the walls themselves shall tremble in fear

No rest for the wicked, time to get a little more resin cleaned up and ready for building;


I'm going to do the havocs, dread and praetor tribune simultaneously, then take a break to paint up operation red veil.


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Cheers GA! There will be no walls left by the end of turn two if it all goes to plan

You mays well not bother with fortifications against that. They'd just look at you funny and the walls would be rubble. Very nice!

As for what marks to use, iirc the mkiii armour is the iron armour right? That feels a lot more "heavy weapons" to me. I would also not mix and match through squads, since the idea of a squad all wearing the same mark of armour looks a lot better imo.

Looking forward to what else you have!

Yeah, iron warriors do enjoy a good demolition party . The vindicator isn't going to be in the initial army list, it was when I'd planned on going with the hammer of Olympia row. Then I got the ironfire with bikes idea in my head...

As for what else there is obviously the ironclad in the pic, the plastic contemptor, a plasma support squad that is slowly getting done (you can see them in the background of some of the wip pics), a mkii assault squad, a ferrus dominus automaton, and a shadowsword (aka the Tormentor) all bought and waiting for assembly and paint. I'm not sure about after that. Probably some rhinos and maybe some air support, full bombardment theme.

Also, good call on the armour. Might go mkii though as it's the mark on the illustration.


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Just a quick addition to the last post, all cleaned up and ready for building into sub assemblies;



Going to work on the dread, mkii havocs and the tribune simultaneously, and leave the mkiii's for later.

Hey, managed to get a small amount done since the last update, although a lack of black primer has held me back from the work I'd like to have done.



Torsos and legs assembled, praetor tribune built with a head swap, and ironclad ready for paint. I haven't glued the arms on the marines so that I can paint the torso details easier. I can't say I'm looking forward to matching up the arms, guns and ammo feeds, but that's a problem for another day.

Whilst not being able to paint those, I was at least able to get a bit more paint on the support squad;



Hopefully more updates later in the week, off to get some primer now

Cheers

Good lord, you've been on a bit of a spending binge!. Loving the Iron Warriors. paint job .

Are you getting on the Prospero train too?

@AoV ha ha, most of it I've had on the side for a while. I wanted to do the citadel stuff before getting to the fw goodies, so it's probably about three months worth of buying, rather than one big purchase. And glad you like the paintwork, they are coming together to form quite a decent looking army.

I'm not sure about BoP. I'm not sure I want any more infantry just now, maybe down the line. You?

The chevrons on the siege artillery are DOPE. Iron warriors are probably one of my favourite chapters.

Cheers kakita. 10mm tamiya masking tape and lots of peeling off and starting again until they lined up perfectly (or at least to my eyes).

Same about the iron warriors. I've got a large grey knight army, so was reluctant to do another silver power armoured army. Glad I did though as I'm having a lot of fun with them.

How did you even assemble that much resin. I can barely put together 1 Techmarine.

Ah mate, compared to the infinity figures I've been trying to get to stay glued together, those chunky resin pieces went together like a dream. I'm really not looking forward to the final assembly phase though.

 JamesY wrote:
@AoV ha ha, most of it I've had on the side for a while. I wanted to do the citadel stuff before getting to the fw goodies, so it's probably about three months worth of buying, rather than one big purchase. And glad you like the paintwork, they are coming together to form quite a decent looking army.

I'm not sure about BoP. I'm not sure I want any more infantry just now, maybe down the line. You?

Yep I have sold my soul to the plastic demon and thrown a chunk of cash at BoP so I get some nice variety in my Legion Dark Angels. MkIV is cool but I feel like a Legion would have a fair bit of variety with the amount of fighting they do. So I have MkIII to VI armour throughout my force. Might throw some of the MkIII and IV into my 40K too.

Yeah I hear you. I'd like enough mkii and iii to be able to field a great crusade Iron Warriors army, maybe even just mkii IV legion unification era, but they do look good all mixed together, especially in HH games so you get the feel of the time that's passed. I look forward to seeing a few of your 30k DA when they are done.

Finally got all the half term obligations out of the way, so finally got some paint down;



and all the bits;


Even though there is a lot to do here, feels good seeing the end in sight. The bases are underway, so it's just a case of getting to the table now. Silver is done with highlights, so a wash of glossy nuln oil next. Given the cost of these twelve models I feel like I need to take my time and do them justice. Aiming for at least the havocs and Praetor done by the Christmas holidays, so not too unrealistic. It's my birthday tomorrow as well, so hopefully there will be a couple more additions to the Iron

My word, so much silver!

Looking forward to seeing this all wrapped up. Keep at it JamesY!

G.A

Wrapped up? Oh no, I'm no where near done with the Iron Warriors, I'm just nearly at the end of the 2k list I have done for gaming...

There is still a lot of Iron without to get through, although I will throw in some other small projects to break it up. I'm going to have Perturabo, in the Tormentor, with as many Iron Circle bots as the tank will carry before I'm done

 JamesY wrote:
Wrapped up? Oh no, I'm no where near done with the Iron Warriors, I'm just nearly at the end of the 2k list I have done for gaming...

There is still a lot of Iron without to get through, although I will throw in some other small projects to break it up. I'm going to have Perturabo, in the Tormentor, with as many Iron Circle bots as the tank will carry before I'm done

Damn, that's a lot of Iron throughout!

This blog is making me feel pretty guilty that I'm still trying to finish off one squad of Fire Warriors. Might have missed my October 16th deadline by quite some margin

Still, do keep it up - nice to see such a large force of Iron Warriors coming together

G.A

Ah don't feel bad. You have time only if you make it. If you haven't been able to make time then you've had more important, or relevant, things to do instead. Keep getting to the table and you'll get them done

And thanks!

It's just stubborn old me needing to be in the right frame of mind to paint stuff properly. Plus, I don't think the English weather is agreeing with me at the moment - I'm used to dry heat and constant sunshine lighting up my workspace, not grey skies, bitter cold, and lack of internal heating

I'll get in gear eventually. In the meantime, what's going to be the next project in your collection to break up all the silver and yellow?

I can understand that, my constitution prefers hot and dry. Where were you before England?

What next is the big question, as I've literally dozens of unfinished projects that I really should go back to. Probably the Operation Red Veil set from Infinity, then more Iron, then either finish my ad mech or start on my Harles. I'd intended to be finishing my Crimson Fists now, but I hadn't intended labouring over the IW's nearly as much as I have done, and the fists are at least painted enough for a game.

I was in Qatar for 4 years, and then Dubai before that for 5 years. Both pretty hot and pretty bright - Qatar was particularly ideal for painting since no wargaming clubs exist out there, so I had nothing to distract me and no schedules to run to. Only disadvantage is that paint pots can dry up pretty quickly if you don't lock them away somewhere away from the light

Mind you, there were some pretty severe floods last year - all the rain for the year comes pouring down within the space of a week, whether you like it or not

Red Veil sounds like a good project for the blog - my brother just got it himself for the Haq half of the set, so I may be exhibiting them myself on my blog sometime soon if he wants me to paint them, or help painting them

This is always the problem with us wargamers and collectors - so much we want, so much to do, yet so much finished, and so little time!

G.A

I suppose an army is never truly finished is it?

Good progress James.

@GA sounds like an interesting few years. I spent the majority of my preteen years living on the continent, and they were some amazing years.

I'm looking forward to getting my brush on red veil, there's just so much beautiful iron in the way...

@WBD cheers bud . I have a couple of armies that I never plan on adding too. But yeah, my main ones will never be finished. Especially with FW trickle like release rate.

Got a little done this evening, all silver is done with the wash, a bit more on the bases, and couldn't resist tickling the dreadnought a little;


The hazards need a little tidying up, but overall I'm pleased with how he's looking

Nice job, the subtle use of the hazards around the trim works really well.

EDC

Cheers EDC, that three layered trim on the sarcophagus just screamed at me to get some hazards in. I think that was what sold it to me actually. I don't want too many really big hazards in the army as I don't want it to look cluttered when it's together, so subtly is what I'm aiming for


Well today my age ticks up a notch, and in celebration of that I've been given a couple of hobby gifts...



Here we have Perturabo, and a Land Raider Proteus. Off to get some glue now to get these built!

Look forward to seeing how you get on with Perturabo.

Land raider Proteus... which one is that again?

Cheers AoV! He's going to take a while to do justice to the incredible sculpt, but I can't wait to get to him

Proteus is basically the remake of the original RT land raider.


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Land raider built, Perturabo has been scrubbed and awaits his building. The detailing around his head is so fine that I doubt I'll be able to do him justice, but I'll take on the challenge

Just a quick update with a poor picture. All bases done with the models glued on. I've done a few details on the dread, but they don't show in the picture at all. Now that I'm at this point it should be easy enough to try and get through the steps. Hopefully I'll get half an hour a night, which will see progress happen reasonably quickly. Might take my time on the praetor and use him as practice for Perturabo.

There's a good guide on faces in October's White Dwarf. Even if you don't want to pick it up, you're bound to know someone who has it. It's a really detailed guide as it's a heavy metal one, and the end result is so worth it. Worthy for a Primarch I'd say!

Good progress.

Cheers WBD I've got a subscription to wd, I flicked through it but didn't properly read the article. I'm pretty good with faces normally, but I'll definitely give it a read, Pert is going to need everything I can give him...

I've still got the wd from the 90's with Mike McVey's guide to faces somewhere in my mum's loft, I'll have to dig that out as well.

Dreadnought is nearly finished, hunter killer missiles need painting and adding, and the exhausts need a little dirtying, and he'll be ready for a better picture.

Looks brilliant!

Is it just me, or are those hazard stripes a little bit wonky?

They might be, trying to get them in position across all the plate panels was exceedingly patience testing. I'll have another look at it and try and neaten them up.

I can imagine. Especially smaller hazard stripes too. Personally they look fine to me, dunno what GA is on about

Cheers WBD

Hopefully a clearer picture will make it easier to tell. The rivets do distort the impression of the lines a little.

On with the havocs now!

Awesome looking army man... keep up the good work

Thread Subscribed!

JamesY wrote:They might be, trying to get them in position across all the plate panels was exceedingly patience testing. I'll have another look at it and try and neaten them up.

I have the same problem with my Freebooterz - as it turns out, even flexible precision masking tape doesn't bend well around their trousers always requires a lot of neatening up after

WarbossDakka wrote:Personally they look fine to me, dunno what GA is on about

You questioning my eyesight, W.D?

Last week I realised that Heavy Bolters are actually strength 5 rather than 6 for the first time in about a year. Perhaps if my brain is deteriorating, my eyes might be too. Should go see a doctor

@ArchaonSon cheers pal there is plenty more to come! Hopefully when the Praetor and Havocs are done I'll be getting a few decent army shots in, and hopefully a battle against a stunning word bearers army that I'd like to write a batrep on.

@GA I've found dental picks to be a good way of getting the tape down into the nooks and crannies, might be worth a try, especially around the creases at the knees. The pics you've put up look good though, so it's obviously working for you.

Little bit more done just now, you can see where the hazards are going to go on the bodies, hence no arms yet. I've added more highlights to the Praetor's armour to make the details pop a bit, although the pic doesn't really show much. Xv-88 panels are obviously going to get the hazard treatment

 JamesY wrote:


@GA I've found dental picks to be a good way of getting the tape down into the nooks and crannies, might be worth a try, especially around the creases at the knees. The pics you've put up look good though, so it's obviously working for you.

That's a neat idea! I've been using a pair of tweezers to move the tape into position, but that will help flatten it a little more. Still reckon I'll need to do a little neatening of the lines due to all the creases, but thanks for the advice

That Praetor is looking really nice - can't wait to seem him with his stripes!

What colour do you use for your Yellow? Averland Sunset? It looks very dark in your WIP photos, but I guess that's down to lighting.

G.A

Looks certainly like Averland Sunset or Burnt Amber. Looks very effective against the darker metallics and blacks, which is good. Well done!

Cheers both.

I put a base layer of vx-88, a light brown, for the yellow on the iron warriors, which is the colour in the picture, and then put watered down averland on top, with an edge highlight of flashgitz. It gives the yellow an earthier quality, which suits the drab look I want for them, rather than using orange for the shading, which gives it the more cartoony looking style like the 40k scheme.

Edit the other question is, what colour to paint the paragon blade?

Quick update, vx-88 down on all the havocs, and the base layer of warplock bronze is down on all of them. The tribune so far is very enjoyable to paint

The Tribune has a nice sense of movement to him, yet he's not to over the top like some SM minis.

Do you do the bases first? I'd be too worried I'd get some paint on the base before I had finished the mini itself.

It's a really nice model, with the exception of the original head.

I do the bases and bodies separately, and glue them together when I know my brush doesn't need to go near the feet. However, the bases are varnished, and I keep a box of cue tips and some isopropyl alcohol handy just in case...

 JamesY wrote:
I do the bases and bodies separately, and glue them together when I know my brush doesn't need to go near the feet. However, the bases are varnished, and I keep a box of cue tips and some isopropyl alcohol handy just in case...

They are really nice bases! Forgive me if you've explained this before, but what manufacturer do you buy them from?

They area gw's sector imperialis bases. I'm pleased with how they are coming out, and the rust and oxidised copper let me get some colour in without over powering the drab tones of the scheme. The only problem is once you start, you want all the models in the army to be on them...


Hazards are on the Praetor, with the shading started;

Tell you what though, it's one big weapon he's carrying about. Bet it's murder to put in a case

Good progress mate!

 JamesY wrote:
They area gw's sector imperialis bases. I'm pleased with how they are coming out, and the rust and oxidised copper let me get some colour in without over powering the drab tones of the scheme. The only problem is once you start, you want all the models in the army to be on them...

They do look really nice, so I can't blame you for wanting them on every model I'm also shifting all my Orks to 32mm bases, which has burnt a hole in my wallet

Great work as always though

G.A

@WBD cheers bud. He hasn't yet seen the inside of a case yet. A friend gave me the mkiii techmarine as a birthday gift, so he's probably going to get replaced in the list anyway, and might never see the gaming table, much less a case... But yeah, it's a big old blade he's hefting around.

@GA I feel that, I've had to buy three different boxes to get the 32mm, 40mm, 50mm and ovals for the bikes. Going to need a fourth for the assault squad and a couple of cheeky ideas I've got in the iron pipe line . And thanks!

Wow those are some great looking models!

Cheers DaemonColin, here are some better pictures to enjoy ;













Just the havocs left and I can finally get them on the table

Any votes on the title pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Very nice JamesY. I'm sure the Havocs aren't too far behind either! Well done on these guys.

I love me a mortis dreadnought

The praetor with the glaive is awesome. I like the energy effect you've got going there.

WarbossDakka wrote:Very nice JamesY. I'm sure the Havocs aren't too far behind either! Well done on these guys.

Cheers mate. The havocs are going to be a bit of a labour of love, I'm doing the hazards on the thin plate beneath the chest panel, which will take a lot of patience to get right. Hopefully they will look worthy of the time.

angelofvengeance wrote:I love me a mortis dreadnought

The praetor with the glaive is awesome. I like the energy effect you've got going there.

Thanks AoV, I'm pretty pleased with both. The energy is just lots of glazes of hoeth blue. I over highlighted the blade around the energy conductor looking bit, then just kept applying the glaze until it looked right.

Praetor and dread are looking really swanky. Nice work.

EDC

Thanks EDC

 JamesY wrote:

WarbossDakka wrote:Very nice JamesY. I'm sure the Havocs aren't too far behind either! Well done on these guys.

Cheers mate. The havocs are going to be a bit of a labour of love, I'm doing the hazards on the thin plate beneath the chest panel, which will take a lot of patience to get right. Hopefully they will look worthy of the time.

Sometimes, you just feel like doing something overly difficult, even if you don't need to. I think everyone does it at some point. The extra effort is going to be worth it though!

Cheers WBD, I hope it will be I'm just looking forward to playing some games with them now. I started painting them in August and am just itching to unleash some artillery bombardments.

That dread look's menacing! Awesome work on the stripes.

Thanks Sigulf

First wip shot of a havoc below. Hopefully should be able to spend a lot of time with these lads over the weekend and will make some good progress with them. Only a torso I know, but let me know what you think;



Hazards where impossible to keep parallel with the curves of the plate, so did the best I could.

Five done. This is not what I would call a fun stage of the process. When I've done all ten I'll highlight the lines and maybe add some chipping.

Looks nice so far JamesY!

Do you paint the arms and heads separately for ease of assembly, painting, or both?

Cheers GA. I fear that there will be no ease of assembly on these guys, with 6 contacts to make under superglue drying times. Hopefully everything will line up ok.

I'm learning as I go with the subassemblies. On the crimson fists I fully assembled them, and regretted it whilst painting. On the Eldar I learned how much time is saved by keeping it in as many parts as reasonably possible, which I've taken over to the Iron Warriors. So far I've been just doing the head, bolter, backpack and pauldrons separately. I didn't put the arms on these only because I wanted to do the hazards around the waist. Hopefully I won't regret that when it comes to the final assembly.

I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked, but all ten Havocs now all look like this;



Just a transfer on the knee and they are done and I can move onto their guns

I have also primed this guy, who will accompany Perturabo to ascertain his loyalty...



I'm not an old man BTW, hands are wrinkled as I'd just gotten out of the bath.

Also got some silver on the contemptor and chaplain.

Cheers

Should try painting in the bath at least once. Comfortable yet terrifying if you drop the mini. Sounds like an oddly stressful challenge

My plans with Geigor is to change him into a Deathwatch Captain, but I don't know if his pose will allow for the left shoulderpad.

I think I might actually have to resort to painting in the tub, only time I seem to get to myself lately!

I think a shoulder pad would work okay, as long as it isn't ridged and blocking his vision. Sounds like a good conversion, look forward to seeing it

Just nail a wood plank across the width of the bath and you have your very own workspace

Baths are a luxury for me, especially when I'm flat sharing and have to deal with 2 other people using the bathroom...

Anyways

Can't wait to see those Havocs completed - what are you going to be arming them with?

G.A

Ah we've all been there GA, my third year of uni there was five of us and one bathroom. The conditions you'll accept for low rent...

Hopefully they won't take too long, it's the shoulder pads that will take the time now. They are getting autocannons, in true Iron Warriors style . I've got another mkiii havoc squad in the pipeline who will have heavy bolters. But they are for another day

I'm not even sure if I'm really paying rent lower than most people my age - living downtown is expensive even with flat sharing

Autocannons and Heavy Bolters are some of my favourite Marine weapons. I'll be staying tuned for sure

Nice. The Iron Havocs looks pretty damn awesome already.

EDC

Cheers both. Hopefully won't take too long

Felt a little better this evening, well enough to glue these fellas together;





The arms didn't line up brilliantly with the position of the guns, so there are a few dodgy positions on the right wrists. I'll be honest I'm not sure how I feel about the finished results, although that may be down to feeling unwell.

So a break now from Iron, and onto Infinity . Loads more iron still to come though...

Wow... don't think I've ever seen as many autocannons as that before. Looks violent lol

Cheers AoV, hopefully they will either eradicate anything less than AV14, or act as a massive fire magnet and draw fire away from the medusas and quad guns...

Having a break is fine JamesY, you've done loads of them already! Need to be on top form when Perturabo rolls around though

@:WBD you're not wrong there! He is going to be a slow paint, I'll do bits here and there as I do other things. I did the same with Polux and was pleased with the results, I tend to get bored and quit if I am on a model for too long.

Full army so far;

At last, a group shot!

That really is impressive when you look at it. I bet you're quite chuffed being able to take a step back and see it come together

Very nice James! That's a lot of metal. How many pots have you gone through?

General Annoyance wrote:At last, a group shot!

That really is impressive when you look at it. I bet you're quite chuffed being able to take a step back and see it come together

Glad you like it It's actually my favourite part of the hobby, that moment when you finish a project and can look on it in all its glory. Luckily this particular project has a phase two to look forward too, which will include the most ridiculous single unit conceivable (Perturabo and co)...

WarbossDakka wrote:Very nice James! That's a lot of metal. How many pots have you gone through?

Ta! you know what, not too much. Probably about half a pot of Vallejo steel, a tub of leadbelcher air, and nearly a full tub of gloss nuln. Good mileage I think for 2.5k points.

The infinity stuff is now built. Hopefully I'll be able to get some sand on the bases and undercoat them this week and start painting next weekend

So, first blog post of the new year hope everything one who reads this had a fantastic festive period, I certainly did!

I had said previously that I was going to have a break from the Iron. I have made a start on some space hulk terminators, but my intention to do the infinity models has been hampered by not being able to get outside to spray them, what with winter weather not being ideal for primer. So, more iron has been done than intended... I haven't got too many pictures at present, but I've finished a chaplain and a ten man plasma support squad, a contemptor, and I have started work on the next batch;




These are going to be a little different. I'm going to do all my mkiii as pure IV Legion, and have a small collection of them. They'll be veterans in bigger games, but won't have cheverons, or the death mask icon.

I'll try and get some pics of the finished stuff tomorrow.

Cheers

You've returned at last! (not that I can say anything about that...)

I spray inside in a room that isn't frequently used with a face mask on, then crack open every window and leave it for an hour or two; works well because I don't put the central heating on

Looking forward to seeing the Iron return

G.A

 General Annoyance wrote:
You've returned at last! (not that I can say anything about that...)

I spray inside in a room that isn't frequently used with a face mask on, then crack open every window and leave it for an hour or two; works well because I don't put the central heating on

Looking forward to seeing the Iron return

G.A

Never go in the garage personally, so I do all my spraying in there. Quite well ventilated in there too. Looking forward to seeing the new models!

Cheers fellas. The room I paint in is also where I dress and keep all my clothes, so whilst airbrushing is alright, I wouldn't use a rattle can. Managed to clear the space to get the lightbox out, so definitely more pictures soon the dread is nothing special, but the other stuff is alright.

As promised, the last models from the BaC set finally finished;










On the table now is a mkii command squad, apothecaries (including the primaris medicae in terminator armour), a resin mkiii squad, a plastic mkiii squad, a shatter bolter Havoc squad (5 man) and a meltagun support squad (5 man). Most of that will be IV legion, rather than Iron Warriors, so shouldn't take too long hopefully. Then I'm finally going to get on to Perturabo and some Iron Circle bots

I love the orange plasma weapons. They look fantastic with the metal of the Iron Warriors scheme. Is it done with an airbrush or painted with a brush?

Cheers Bottle. Normally I just do the coils copper and leave it at that, but for these I thought that the orange would suit them better. The orange was airbrushed on, then neatened up by hand, you can just about see on the tops of the barrels where I've darkened it a bit. Not great osl, but good enough for a unit I'll probably never actually use

Just a little side project I've started today to go alongside the IV legion that is the main focus, a techno barbarian tribe for late unification wars era battles. A few of my gaming buddies are getting on the bandwagon, so might die a quiet death, or build into something reasonable. Going for the roid fused, sledgehammer punching kinda look reminiscent of goliaths, with a few runts running around between them (gene breeding doesn't always work out well). They still need greenstuffing to finish them off.



Hope you like the idea/models

They look impressive! Certainly quite unique too. Let's see how they turn out once you've painted them

Cheers GA, they'll see paint at some point...

WIP of the legion vets, cos those trenches don't dig themselves

Hey JamesY.
Very impressive Work you have done.
I really like the coulours you using.
especially the Iron Warriors Cybot are really
nice.
This thread is subbed.

Greetings
Hänk

Aha, shovels. Not any old shovels though, they are Power Shovels! Dig 10% faster with all new Power Shovels...

Lovely progress anyway JamesY!

Cheers Hänk, glad you like them, lots more still to come...

@WBD you know it! Got a power pick-axe on one of the backpacks for extra fast ground breaking. They are coming along, doing some suitable battle damage on these, lots of scuffs and scratches, so should look fairly 'worn' by the time they are done. As soon as it warms up a bit I'll be able to get the resin stuff primed

Slow progress so far, despite plenty of time at the painting table. Models are on bases (which needed painting), black bits blackened, and started a bit of battle damage here and there;





Hopefully a good blast at the weekend will move things along abit. Proteus is coming along too, although I'll wait until it isn't just a mass of silver and black before posting pictures.

Great stuff here!
Particularly your techno barbarian tribe conversions. I'd love to see more.

Cheers tinfoil, here you go;


(these guys will probably work using squig rules)







Few close ups of the mkiii, I've added some battle damage, and a thin brown glaze at the bottom of the armour panels to break up the starkness of the silver a little, I don't want to be accused of trying to have an easy life on these lads


(This is actually a ten man unit, the other five are just carrying their bolters two handed, with no conversion work, so I haven't bothered taking pictures of them yet)











I am also doing a five man unit of each of these;




And finally, the Proteus so far


The black panels need highlighting and hazards, doors need doing as do the guns, but getting there. Although I'm enjoying painting these, I'm looking forward to it all being done so I can move on to the resin stuff that I basecoated today. Lots of steps still to go though

Ha, love those Vets, full of character (well, as much character as the Warriors have).

Great progress!

Cheers mate. Starting to gear up towards tackling Perturabo soon...

Got a bit more done on the Proteus today. Still needs a few more details and a little weathering, but it's at least ready for gaming now. I'll post a proper picture when it's finished, but you get the idea

Work is looking solid bud.

Take it you've seen the tyrant terminators on the way now?

Cheers mate. Yeah I was sent a picture today, my unit will definitely be getting bulked up to ten once they are available.

They really are nice models.
just annoying it took them soo long as most people made their own.

Friend of mine has 30, all built with spellcrow blizzard missiles that he's now planning on swapping out.

30? Jesus. I was sore at my five costing around £75ish by the time I'd upgraded the shoulder pads and bought the missiles from eBay...

I've been gearing up for another five anyway, so mercifully for me they have come at a good time. Hopefully they will fit nicely together in one unit. Your mate will suddenly have a good pride of the legion row with all those terminators if he goes ahead.

Finshed the base coats on the shoulder pads today, so glued them on to the vets (the havocs and support squad are a couple of steps behind on the lenses so haven't done them yet. The backpacks need a little brown adding to the shading, and the brass needs a final highlight, but getting there steadily. Once I get to Whw for another transfer sheet (you get 15 of the design I need 30 of on one), I can add some battle damage to the pauldrons, and they'll be done. . As ever, better pic on completion, which will hopefully be by the end of the week for all three squads and the Proteus.

I managed to get a few hours at the painting table this evening, and have nearly finished these fellas;








I need to get to Whw for another transfer sheet, then I can get them finished and move on to the resin mkiii unit and a load of characters

I'm slightly jealous that you can just go to WHW and get all the FW stuff you need off the shelf. I bet you're a regular customer with the amount of models you get through so quickly

The bases are looking fantastic as usual, compliments the IW colours very well. Vets are looking mighty fine as well!

http://www.spellcrow.com/blizzard-missile-launchers-p-305.html


If you do want more before the actual ones are released bud.
Sod hunting down GW cyclones on eBay.

I even use them for my deathwatch.
Well worth trawling through the site too as they got some nice stuff you could make use of.

Also, from ordering it's never taken longer than 3 days to arrive.
So fast, cheap and reliable.

@WBD cheers mate Yes it is a privilege to be so close to Whw, and I do enjoy giving Rosy and Bragg my hard earned money. I'll be going again soon for either a predator or landspeeder . If you are ever planning a visit let me know and I'll try and get across for a game/beer.

@Jackal I've actually got that link copied on my phone's home screen! Thanks for the recommendation, might have a look at their other goodies, as I'll hold out for the FW ones now I know that they are on the horizon.

Finally got the proteus finished









And finally, a group shoot of everything that's painted (if not with transfers on) so far;



Hope you like it.

Wow, that is a fine looking army.

Nice work on the LR and all the other IW stuff, it's looking rather snazzy.

Gotta say the Techno Barbarians are totally off the hook to, outstanding work.

EDC

@the turnip master, many thanks, I'm pretty pleased with the way it is shaping up. Needs a little more variation in unit types, but I'll be getting those soon

@EDC cheers bud, I'll be adding some snazzier stuff in the next batch, lots of characters coming up. The techno barbarians might get some attention soon after.

You never cease to amaze James. The transfers are incredibly effective, well done!

Cheers mate, between those and the masking tape, a lot of the hard work has definitely been done for me.

I managed to get a second sheet today, which have all been applied, set and varnished onto the three units, and photos taken. Sadly I wasn't allowed to spend another hour uploading and editing them, so they will have to wait until tomorrow.

Oh very nice job on the LR and the group shot! What do you think of the siege tyrants that FW was showing off?

Cheers Ustrello.

They aren't quite how I envisioned them, as they have a lot of curves, where I imagine them to be more blocky. I do like them though, and will definitely get a set to add to mine.

That's quite a horde. Looks great.

Cheers mate

So, after far too long on these lads, here they are. They will be vets or the appropriate units when they are with the rest of the Iron Warriors, and they will also become a part of a 1k crusade era IV legion army that is just for light hearted casual games.



















Hope you like them, and more to come over half term, with six character models on the table

SIX characters?! Damn, that's gonna be great to behold!

Oh yes! Techmarine, primaris medicae, mkii command squad and two apothecaries. I'm rubbing my hands together in excitement, and then on to Perturabo and the Iron Circle

Lol, you're not even including Perturabo in those 6. He's probably about 3 in himself!

Very nice stuff here mate. You're turning out some quality IV Legion work.

@wbd yeah, once I get started on him, it's going to be a long time before he gets finished. The level of detail, same as all the primarch models, as astounding. I really want to do him justice, I just hope my patience holds out.

@Azazelx cheers mate, so far I've been happy with how they have turned out so far. I'm looking forward to adding a few different things in there after a couple more units, like jetbikes and a few more tanks.

I have been a little busy in the hobby room today; I finished all the bases and have glued the next batch onto them.



Not an amazing picture I know, but you can see what's on there.

I don't have a picture, but I have also built something, bigger...

WIP pictures of that tomorrow

Very nice looking work!

Nice work so far

If I had to guess I'd say you have at least 3k/4k points of Iron Warriors at the moment.

Look forward to seeing the "something bigger" project