Stonned's Guard 'The Gunheads'

The Gunheads are a cadian tank ace company that rely on there diversity of fire power to succeeded wear others fail. This means that they field an array of different models off leman russ from different forgeworlds & different ages. There somewhat ragtag appearance however is dismissed with there discipline in battle. Due to this they are aloud some leeway in further customisation of their vehicles & wargear and often sport unique camo and wargear. This is extended to the supporting veteran mechanised infantry and fast redeploy artillery. Also with this many unique vehicles come a small mechanics detachment. All adept and desert combat and all share a hatred of Ork kind.

Why the gunheads

My Guard army has been through some different ideas but as iv'e redone the intro to 'The Red Tide' - my Ork thread https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/684211. I thought it would be cool to use the original inspiration for my tank company 'The Gunheads' from Steve Parker's novel (same name). In which an imperial guard detachment is persuaded by tech priests with ulterior motives to land on a Ork controlled planet in an effort to try and rescue Yarriks lost baneblade 'The fortress of arrogance'. This way both my armies and threads are opposing forces from the same book. Cool eh?

Whats on these pages?

So although i may have got the inspiration from Gunheads at 1st i didn't use it as my army as i wanted to include some Russian elements in my army, mainly BTR's (love APCs) so it stars off in that respect. However i was leaning towards a Savlar chem dogs theme as i like that attitude so don't expect the 1st few pages to make much reference to gunheads. As i was only just getting back into the hobby at the start of this thread (due to a broken leg) progress is slow to begin with as i get back to it.

On the 1st page its shotgun conversions along with some scion builds and APC work with some ideas. I get started on the tanks on page 3 but really finished models don't start appearing till page 6.

Completed models
Annihilator & Exterminator


APC's


Command squad & heavy flamers


Veteran squad 1


Tech-priestess


Battle reports:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/90/668393.page#8659693 -Road to the vaults




Oroganal post:
So iv'e been batting around this ig list for about a year and due to a broken leg i have got a lot of time on my hands to start it.
Its themes being a ragtag, bush mechanic, soviet style and mechanized infantry in BTRs supported by as many tanks as i can get my hands on.

My list consists of 20 og veterans with shotguns, 30 scions, 3 BTR APCs and around 10 lemen russ's.
Getting the shotguns is difficult as you can only get them from forge world or space marine scouts, forge world costs loads and the sm versions look more chunkier so i'm going with them. i bought a few off bitz websites but if anyone has any spare they could send me it would be much appreciated! msg me if you could
As for the scions they are insanely over priced and i dot really like the look of them, to ruinous, so ive just bought as many of the hotshot guns of the web as i could and some shocktroopers, im still a few score short for the moment though.
As for the BTR i found some kits about the right size from kitteck.

So the 1st of my troops have arrived but didn't realise they were 2 piece easy clip models haha. Oh well with some greenstuuff they will work. The size to the BTR works well though. Also my original attempt to make a vet with shotgun, stick a am helmet on a sm scout, and use it as carripace armour.

Behold the turox BTR! The turret will be redone when I can get to my bits box but otherwise quite pleased. What do you think dakka?

it looks great!

Really Nice idea. TBH additional imperial stuff can be added to this transport.

Yeah defiantly! When i can get to my bitz box it will happen, though that won be a while aha bones must heal.

As a Wargame: Red Dragon addict, I strongly approve.

Aye! Soviet stuff ftw! It's a good start on the army, mate.

Cheers all!
Added what I could including a guy with a Soviet style tank hat! Needs fitting better tho.
Also started on a few testers for painting.

Originally was going to go with the red body armor in my head buy the white atchally looks better I think, might add red helmets hear and there.

Waiting on post atm, so did some lemen Russ designs because the chassi has potential further than just the Russ. Ones inspired by macharius that I think il use instead of the standard one, one with two main weapons, and another that's a transport, allthough in my army I will use chermeras converted into BPMs as IFVs. Finally a take on the Russ chassi bassalisk, what due think dakka.

Using Scout marines for veterans. Genius!! How did i not think of that?! Does the size go well though? And did you cut of the bolters to replace them with lasgun hands?

Nikoloz wrote:
Using Scout marines for veterans. Genius!! How did i not think of that?! Does the size go well though? And did you cut of the bolters to replace them with lasgun hands?

I modelled some vets by adding Scout shotgun arms to IG torsos - but I should warn you that the arms come paired up with the shotgun and they are slightly too wide for Guard torsos; I had to add some green stuff to bulk out the shoulders and get them to make contact with the torsos. Looked fine in the end.

NI've loz wrote:Using Scout marines for veterans. Genius!! How did i not think of that?! Does the size go well though? And did you cut of the bolters to replace thehadn't h lasgun hands?

Cheers! ive atchally only done the one so far as I had an old metal scout kicking around, I chipped at thehotshots, untill one of those empty guard helmets would fit. Yeah I reckon getting plastic ones and replaceing the hands would work well, allthough my army doesn't have any lassguns in it atall, only hotshots and I'm not sure what to do with those yet so if you do try be sure to post it so I can have a look!

Henners91 wrote:

Nikoloz wrote:
Using Scout marines for veterans. Genius!! How did i not think of that?! Does the size go well though? And did you cut of the bolters to replace them with lasgun hands?

I modelled some vets by adding Scout shotgun arms to IG torsos - but I should warn you that the arms come paired up with the shotgun and they are slightly too wide for Guard torsos; I had to add some green stuff to bulk out the shoulders and get them to make contact with the torsos. Looked fine in the end.

Yeah this was what I planned, maybe just replaceing the hands would do? Or the arms and the torso, as I'm doing carripace armour too and it would then be represented better.

Bag of guns Arived

Nice! Random bitz or weapons only?

Just gunz!!
Lots of gunzzz!

Used just the shotguns and kept the am arms in the end, had to space out the arms with greenstuuff a little.

Started on two scions as I was waiting fir the undercoat to dry on the vets, tried mixing them up abit with a sniper and a big amo box which is neater than it looks haha.

Turret mock up for autocannon Chimera btr

Started on my vets!

More shotguns.
Finnished vets
And some more started, added some extra armour over some of the shoulder pads, hopefully this will give them some more uniqueness and help represent carripace armour.

Done a bit of birthday painting, tried layering and blending properly for the 1st time and I'm quite happy with the results, compared to my previous models further up i reckon it's quite an improvement. Need a wider range of pagents though haha.

Finnished off the 2 scicons and the vet, pleased with my improvement particularly the gear and the white. Old pic for comparison.

Finnished modeling the spechil weapons for the 1st vet squad

Added some more shoulder pads

Not much progress today as I'm doing a bigger batch so slower work as I'm sure your all aware.

Done a bit of painting and Ive decided 3 models at a time keeps me intrested and lets the paint dry fast enough!
Also more post!

This gives an idea of what im aiming for,
Allthough ive lengthened it after looking at it.

Some progress on my freya class Russ, wasn't sure if the chassis was too long but I like the over hang at the front, looks more substantial. Also the basicc idea for my Emporer class russ

Not much done last few days just the special weapons troopers, they give a good idea of the pads though.

If there are any leaguers watching...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My 1st rivets enjoying this

Done the front end, replaced some of the rivets to better fit

Finished my 1st squad! Whoop!
Lost my fine detail brush however, just as I was getting the hang of technique aswell!

Dug this old project up to bulk out the ranks. Attempted this a while back but never posted the finnished result, well hear you go aha my scratch built Russ.
...needs rivets.

I like the tiger stripe of that Russ.

It looks good, but I really recommend you to thin your paints just a bit more, white tends to be clumpy.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I like the tiger stripe of that Russ.

Cheers! Planning to do the tanks different schemes but might use this as the standered, as I really like the red and the cream.

Matthew wrote:It looks good, but I really recommend you to thin your paints just a bit more, white tends to be clumpy.

Ah yeah I see what you mean, I will do thanks! Will end up doing 10washes of white haha.
Some proggress on squad two, now I know what I want them too look like can do them in bulk
Started fabricating my own meltas, shorted the barrale so I won't have to cut slits. There definitely going to end up lacking detail but will do the job I reckon.
Comments and critique welcome.

Not sure which is better, one is closer to the melts design but is a bit chunky, thoughts?

The meltas look OK, not great but OK.

Since you're putting so much work into the army through maybe some metlas from one of the alternate bits companies would work? Off the top of my head Victoria Lamb, Puppets War and Mad Robot all make them.

Kid_Kyoto 66839179 dae7645f252c5c2fc20e6cb1a609a0ed.jpg wrote:The meltas look OK, not great but OK.

Since you're putting so much work into the army through maybe some metlas from one of the alternate bits companies would work? Off the top of my head Victoria Lamb, Puppets War and Mad Robot all make them.

Good idea, had a look theres some good choices, some interesting ones on shapeways. Bit short of cash tho atm it being Christmas then newyear

Finnished my freya tank, think she looks oryte. Quite simple detail but hopefully effective.

The Freya is quite the different design! The deck between the treads would allow for some safe transport of tank riders to leap off and go to work doing infantry like things!

and rivets!

 shasolenzabi wrote:
The Freya is quite the different design! The deck between the treads would allow for some safe transport of tank riders to leap off and go to work doing infantry like things!

and rivets!

Hhaha Always
maybe i should add a guard rail, you know, to guard my guard Na, i think they'd end up as a squishy plate of armour on the front. Am thinking about adding a bit off length to russ to make a new pattern which could carry 10 troops and a Punisher, demolisher or conquer gun so i can get up close then dumb vets in there face! Ahem. can't decide between that or having a crack at the malcador atm though.

So done almost no work recently as iv'e moved back into my house and all the festivities so had no spare time to either set up a space or get on with any of the projects, so instead iv'e gone and created another one to add to my work load!
Whatcha guys think of my new stc?

2nd vet squad mostly done, just the melta guys left. Will prob get them off Victoria miniatures. Got a 2nd BTR transport and started various stuff on russes but still recovering from a massive nye!

Gotta have the troops to go with the tanks right?

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Gotta have the troops to go with the tanks right?

Yeah need something to soak up the bullets

Started on the 2nd apc.

Is that a 1/48 scale BTR?

Yeah, its Kitech they do 70s & 80s rocket luncher versions

stonned_astartes wrote:Yeah, its Kitech they do 70s & 80s rocket luncher versions

Cool on the rocket launcher carrier version.

On the troop level my metals from victoria miniatures came and i messed around with some boarding shield ideas.

Also started on the melta troopers.

Decided upon my turret layout for the btr's, keeps the original look. 1st go at fabricating an autocannon went quite well, tiring a heavy bolter now but its not quite as simple aha.

The melts dudes are looking cool. I like the scarfs around the faces.

EDC

evildrcheese wrote:The melts dudes are looking cool. I like the scarfs around the faces.

EDC

Cheers, i wish i had put them on every model in the 1st squad, just finished the 2nd squad meltas and all and they look much better all with shamags.

I have a fully usable fully mobile force, if not in a totally finished state.
Also finished the 2nd BTR turret with scratch built heavy bolter and autocannon, also making some smoke launchers to use up that space. Not sure if they should all be slanted up though.

Some progress! Started painting the 2nd squad.

Very good! looking forwards to their introduction! I now have the 2nd 10man squad of my own built and displayed, just needs painting!

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Very good! looking forwards to their introduction! I now have the 2nd 10man squad of my own built and displayed, just needs painting!

Thats the hard part i reckon, the painting. Yeah well hopefully theyll be seeing there 1st battle in the coming weeks, got a mate back into it hopefully.

Did some work in an effot to finnish one of the russ's, didn't fancy making another standard hull weapon so had a look on forgeworld for some inspiration and came out with this. Ran out of plastic glue just as I was Finnishing, had to cut it open

very nice work!

Hi fellow Guard,
Very nice armour conversions, I will follow your thread.
Nice to see that someone shares my theme anyway! I feel like we're playing the same regiment (you can see mine in my signature)
Keep going with your good work !

RazgrizOne wrote:Hi fellow Guard,
Very nice armour conversions, I will follow your thread.
Nice to see that someone shares my theme anyway! I feel like we're playing the same regiment (you can see mine in my signature)
Keep going with your good work !

Haha! Yes i have already visited your thread and turned green with envi looking forwards to more, the troops are outstanding!
The same regiment you say, Maybe mine should be the 25th Rhayne armoured division 'Marauders'.

Hey, I have just seen your response going back to your thread.
It would be a pleasure to have someone to share and improve my work on my Rhayians. I have written plenty of material on them but only in French. For example, I have my own codex! We could discuss about a common army with special rules and wargear we could playtest in our own games.
Perhaps a common blog on dakka we could update?

Long live and glory to the 25th Rhayé Armoured Division then !

RazgrizOne wrote:Hey, I have just seen your response going back to your thread.
It would be a pleasure to have someone to share and improve my work on my Rhayians. I have written plenty of material on them but only in French. For example, I have my own codex! We could discuss about a common army with special rules and wargear we could playtest in our own games.
Perhaps a common blog on dakka we could update?

Long live and glory to the 25th Rhayé Armoured Division then !

Wow! Heavy duty. Yeah sounds intresting, a Russian codex. What sort off rules?

As i'm more or less up and running with my grand plan i feel its time to set some meandering goals for my army...

Guard goals:
1) Build 3 more russ's - giving me a total of 2 executioners, 1 exterminator and one pask punisher (probably using the freya until if and when i want to replace it) bringing my playable points up to 1000.
2) Buy a mil - 35 'hind' kit and whack some punisher cannons on it making a mean vulture gunship.
3) Allied detachment of 1 Vanquisher, 1 Thunderer siege tank, 1 Destroyer lazer tank hunter, 1 medusa sige cannon on a russ chassis.
4) Make use of my Malacor templates and build some mean battle tanks.
5) Generally piss around with russ chassis's until i run out, thinking mini Dracosan, auxilia basalisk, conquers etc

The house is a state flux I.e. serious renovations so i have no room to hobby for a week or so. I'm thinking i will try do FW mars pattern alpha pattern style rear, but tweak it a bit and get rid of the engine block.

Finally carved out some modelling space in amongst the chaos!

So started on the russ hulls, going to do a few different rears. also striped of the the hull from my old scratch built russ so i can use that. I think the sneaky mek boy lootas will steal the tracks off the scrap heaps and use them on a bigg trakk.

Nice work finding a hobby hole, looking forward to some updates.

EDC

Pic of the hull as the tech preists price it together

It begins! awesome!

Looking forward to see the result !

Progress report.

More! Please, we must haz more!

 shasolenzabi wrote:
More! Please, we must haz more!

Was writing this post as you posted haha! Thanks for the encouragement!


More or less finished the hull now, but will show all the pics so i can explain things.

First of all i drilled and cut the hole for the turret to fit into, a little time consuming but i think worth it as the turret fits into it and can move! As i'l be using exact copys of the turrets they will all be able to do this.
Went for an elongated vision slit to change things up abit, looked too bare so i added some rivets to spice it up.

With the rear i didn't really know what to do as i got the shapes wrong and couldn't be bothered to cut an engine block. Had some rivet material around so i made a giant exhaust, which took up some of the space. However because its lacking the front box too, it looks a little small; so i may add some ammo storage wear the jerry can is, just to bulk it up.

So to bulk up the model i would like to use the space behind the hull. hear are my ideas what do you think, external storage? or internal ammo?
Would have more detail on the ammo, like hatches and 'AMMO' written in beg letters.

Very nice work! It is a solid and good design!

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Very nice work! It is a solid and good design!

Cheers! Added an ammo box to the storage and some more detail on the front of the hull as i thought it was still looking a bit sparse. Quite happy with the result, looksa bit lighter than a slandered Russ like a dessert rat, will have double auto cannons on the turret which will keep with the light theme. Also finally added the tracks and it looks pretty slick, not to far of the real deal. Also started on the turret and gun moulds, while i wait for them to dryi will do another run of tracks and another hull.

and with tracks

Good putting that Jerry Can in the stowage hopper, now for boxes and other stuff for the crew, pack packs, ammo boxes, canisters, etc. If you can afford it, Zinge Industries has all of that and they are crisp and clean pieces.

Great work on the tank!

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Good putting that Jerry Can in the stowage hopper, now for boxes and other stuff for the crew, pack packs, ammo boxes, canisters, etc. If you can afford it, Zinge Industries has all of that and they are crisp and clean pieces.

Great work on the tank!

Cheers shasolenzabi, i don't have money but have been rummaging the depths of my bitz and found a few odds and end as you suggested, does look better.

Started on the next chassis, this one will probably be an executioner twin to my other but with a double size engine block.

Your scratch build skills are impressive!

 STG wrote:
Your scratch build skills are impressive!

Cheers mate!

Update on the 3rd russ. Good progress on the hull, gives you the jist of it. Ran out of steam as iv'e been painting my ork warboss and my entry for the mantis comp all day.

Rebuilt this can, chucked some bad casts on it, will use it as a proxy if I have any games soon. Really like the low front, makes it look like a slab of tank, sort of the Russ feal. Think I will use that sort of bottom in the next one.

Looks pretty cool!

Cheers mate.

Progress! put the turret holder on(not sure what you call that bit) & added the tracks, needs greenstuff and the front details, possibly some stuff on the back to ass it looks rather chunky. Oh, and turrets, but made the moulds for them so just need to get casting. However i now have enough models to have a 1000pts army! (even if they are lacking parts ).

Ranks of tanks! Two, two ranks...

the tank company approaches, I think the goal should be a 10 tank strong armoured company!

Sounds good to me mate! A couple of them will have to be Medusa siege cannons though.

Battle report! - Road to the vaults

As i had enough tanks to have a battle i decided to jolly well have one, now this is the 1st time me or my opponent has had a battle in around 5 years at a guess so bare in mind if you spot any miss used rules. It was more a game to get us re-familiarize with how to play basics rules and units than to win so it was a fun game even if we were somewhat hungover

Some fluff...
'Why are we hear on this dust bowl of a planet Forgemaster' asked sgt Migul, adding 'its full of bandits, scum and Militias but the imperial creed is strong hear, there no enemies worthy of a fight hear'.
'I hope not brother, i hope not'.The illusive warrior replied, leaving Migul no more the wiser.
'-WE ARE HEAR TO FIND SOMETHING VERY SACRED SARGENT-' Droned out the dreadnought Zillkis, supriseing Migul as the ancient warrior rarely spoke on matters not tactical.
'So were hear to find lost chapter artefacts then?' asked Migul but got nothing More out of the old father.
Just as the Forgemaster went to reply a scream of Vox chatter came over the airwaves.

+++This is Captain Letio of the Marauders you are approaching the vaults of Darrious, you must have Level Alpha clearance to proceed, I am authorized to use force in defending this instillation, please identify yourselves and give codes, over+++

Migul was going to reply when the Forgemaster signalled him not too.
'-THEY MUST NOT KNOW WHO WE ARE-' cut in Zilkis.

+++Please identify and sight clearance codes or i will be forced to send a military escort to your location +++

'We mean them no harm but we can not let out mission be disrupted' said the forgemaster
'For the Emperor', replied Migul readying his bolter as the rumble of engines came to his ears...

The Armies
my opponent didn't have his own force with him so he used my old sm

Marauders fast response unit

HQ – 375pts
Tank commander pask, LR Punisher 210pts
LR Executioner , lass cannon 165pts
TROOPS - 330pts
10 veterans w.shotguns, carapace amour, 3 meltaguns 105pts
Chimera, autocannon 60pts
10 veterans w.shotguns, carapace amour, 3 meltaguns 105pts
Chimera, autocannon 60pts
HEAVY SUPPORT – 295pts
LR Exterminator 130pts
LR Executioner , lass cannon 165pts
TOTAL - 1000pts



Chapter Vengeance reclamation team

HQ – 190pts
Vulkan hestan 190pts
TROOPS – 390pts
10 tactical marines, storm bolter, power fist, missile launcher, meltagun 195pts
10 tactical marines, plasma pistol, power sword, missile launcher, meltagun 195pts
ELLITES – 100pts
Dreadonought, multimelta 100pts
FAST ATTACK – 195pts
10 Assault marines, power hammer, 2 flamers 205pts
HEAVY SUPPORT – 120pts
Vindicator 120pts
Total – 995pts


Deployment
We weren't really bothered how deployed not really having that much of an idea about what to (or any for that matter!). Although i did put my Russes as far away from that dread as i could.


Battle!
Turn 1
The executioners and Letio moved up so they could bring there gattling and plasma to bare on those 3 big marine squads. One of them calming some battle brother with sering hot plasma blasts. The Vets in the BTR transport head straight for the big scary dread and vindicator with there meltas held close, the heavy bolters & autocannons upto firing away, but without much effect.

The lone exterminator sits back and opens up its autocannons killing a couple more Assault members.

the assault marries jump forewards to the building sgt migul hopeful to make short work of the russes with his hammer, the cover of fling rockets from the tac squads.

The Dreadonoughts powerful arm cannon cycles up and blows the autocannon clean off one of the btrs's which then takes a direct hit from a demolisher shell, the impacts knocking the systems offline, but doing little else.

Turn 2
Speeding past there stranded mates the other vet filled BTR steamed on towards the foe, piling out and turning the vindicator into molten slag.

Seeing the other squad prosper they also disembark ready to pile into the inevitable melee that will come.

Letio and the two executioners form up and unleash a torrent of plasma and lead. Completely wiping out the assault squad and that threatening hammer.

In retaliation the dreadnought charges the btr and the foragemaster incinerates 6 of the 1st vet squad then charges and kills the remainders bar 1, who loses his bottle and run for home, however see the other vet squad and immediately rallies!



Turn 3

The tanks start picking off the tac squad close to the forgemaster so it moves to get in towards the cover and the transports, although not making it into the melee that the vets have just joined after firing all the guys at the forgemaster but only one round getting through his energy shield.


Turn 4
The dread carries on attacking the BTR while the FM finishes of the vets, An executioner blows its plasma cannon up.



Turn 5
The other tac squad poke there head out from behind a rock and start taking potshots with a melta but unluckily loose over half there squad getting into position.

Also the other tac squad takes out the final hp on the BTR and the dread does the same wither the other!


Not entirely sure who won as I was crowned victor but they killed 4 units and I only 2.
All in all was a fun game considering I had to keep checking the rule book and the state we were in, but it was really nice seeing my models in action again.
What the game taught me: As both armies are mine i was learning for both of them, I think the key thing I found was more shots are better than one powerful shot because your more like to fail to hit. This was particularly noticeable with my bs3 russes with the lass cannons and defiantly the rocket launcher with the tac squads is a waste especially in squads with a melt guns. Also just because I’ve got assault weapons with my vets doesnt mean i should assault, they will always do better at shooting.

looked fun! I haven't played a game of 40k since 5th edition, and yeah with guard its all about quantity over quality.
battle cannon leman russes with no sponsons or exterminators are the best options IMO bc of the big blast or high rate of fire.

that being said I prefer much more guardsmen so I don't really know about tanks.

 STG wrote:
looked fun! I haven't played a game of 40k since 5th edition, and yeah with guard its all about quantity over quality.
battle cannon leman russes with no sponsons or exterminators are the best options IMO bc of the big blast or high rate of fire.

that being said I prefer much more guardsmen so I don't really know about tanks.

Yeah for sure, the rule of thumb seems to be buy two of everything. With the LRBT though you still only get one shot per turn so its a bad chance of hitting with bs 3, however allthough the lack of range and strength my punisher absolutely laid down the hurt just out of pure weight of fire. Also the exterminator just constantly sat at the back of the board quietly wearing down the marines, i think heavy bolter sponsoons might atchually be worth the 10pts. The executioners really put the hurt down on the marines wiping out half squads each almost every turn, but i do think yes they will misfire at least once a match.

 stonned_astartes wrote:

With the LRBT though you still only get one shot per turn so its a bad chance of hitting with bs 3

But the large blast though? and ap 3 aswell, chews through marines. Don't waste points on sponsons as they can only snapfire due to the main gun being ordnance

 stonned_astartes wrote:
my punisher absolutely laid down the hurt just out of pure weight of fire. Also the exterminator just constantly sat at the back of the board quietly wearing down the marines, i think heavy bolter sponsoons might atchually be worth the 10pts.

Punishers and exterminators are the 2 tanks I would take sponsons on as their main guns aren't ordnance so they can fire all their guns at full BS.

a quick tip for executioners: as they are likely to get hot, if you take the executioner in a squadron with pask, his warlord trait means you can re-roll ones, so if you roll a one for gets hot, you can reroll and hope you don't get another 1.

 STG wrote:

 stonned_astartes wrote:

With the LRBT though you still only get one shot per turn so its a bad chance of hitting with bs 3

But the large blast though? and ap 3 aswell, chews through marines. Don't waste points on sponsons as they can only snapfire due to the main gun being ordnance

 stonned_astartes wrote:
my punisher absolutely laid down the hurt just out of pure weight of fire. Also the exterminator just constantly sat at the back of the board quietly wearing down the marines, i think heavy bolter sponsoons might atchually be worth the 10pts.

Punishers and exterminators are the 2 tanks I would take sponsons on as their main guns aren't ordnance so they can fire all their guns at full BS.

a quick tip for executioners: as they are likely to get hot, if you take the executioner in a squadron with pask, his warlord trait means you can re-roll ones, so if you roll a one for gets hot, you can reroll and hope you don't get another 1.

Cant all ruses do that anyway as there heavy tanks? And thanks for that tip i totally forgot about that and his orders.

unfortunately LRBT'S cannot fire their sponsons at full BS due to the gun being ordnance, they used to be able to but they've changed that.. :(

Ok, so not on LRBT's or other ones with ordnance weapons, but maybe on the others.

forces are looking good there man!

Cracking scratch-builts s_a, really impressed with your skills.

Nice battle report too. It is very gratifying to finally get models on the table after you've been working on them for a prolonged period. I found myself rooting for the marines (sorry, couldn't help it). I thought the IG performed well though. I think your amy was hampered a bit by the small table size. A full-sized 4x6 table would let you take advantage of your vehicles, increased range and mobility to a greater extent.

Keep up the great work!

shasolenzabi wrote:forces are looking good there man!

Cheers shas, just need some turrets on those bad boys now.

Gitsplitta wrote:Cracking scratch-builts s_a, really impressed with your skills.

Nice battle report too. It is very gratifying to finally get models on the table after you've been working on them for a prolonged period. I found myself rooting for the marines (sorry, couldn't help it). I thought the IG performed well though. I think your amy was hampered a bit by the small table size. A full-sized 4x6 table would let you take advantage of your vehicles, increased range and mobility to a greater extent.

Keep up the great work!

Cheers mate! Yeah I did end up writing that way in the end, no idea why

The table was one of the things we spoke about after the game, reckoned they used to be bigger and vowed to go claim some of my old board from storage

Today i finished the 3rd russ, calling it mortis because its a executioner & cba to think of anything clever.


Got sort of lazy and just wanted it finished but it could have done with an exhaust system really.

My next one will i think be lower to the ground and have a less bulky rear the same shape as the forge world one.

a progress shot.

So just about got four tanks together now, Just been finishing the turrets and the freya class. 5 including the scrap tank pics coming soon.

Sorry phones not behaving had to take the card out and move the pics like that, so heres my tanks so far!


I just need a Annihilator now, then on to some medusa's!

Ran out of steam on my tanks but got stuck into a few troops...

Tried adding some extra armour to this Scion, also converted is gun to fire solid slugs, see the shells.



And some of my new lists use heavy flamers so hears how i made one out of two flamers...

1st i cut the end of one and scraping the side clear.


And this side.


had to make this cut is angled slightly as it fits against the chest.


I kept this bit for something else.


Nest i stuck them on the bloke, next to each other and added a bit of rod between the handles.


Then smoothed it off with green stuff and used the grenade launcher arm to hold it.


Pretty pleased with this, quite simple. I did take inspiration from someone else who did exactly the same thing but used the heads of the flamers on the grenade launcher body, stopped the random ending of the gun in the guys midrif but i like mine better aha.

Also this is what i did with the other bit, quite rough, needs some work.


Inspiration comes from this thread http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/326381.page

Cheers, SA.

Ah finally, some infantry!

I really like your Scion conversion. I never really liked the original bodies and what you have done give them a nice feeling.

Maybe you should add an extra flavour of Soviet to fit the theme of your tanks (BMP and so on).

Cheers!

 RazgrizOne wrote:
Ah finally, some infantry!

I really like your Scion conversion. I never really liked the original bodies and what you have done give them a nice feeling.

Maybe you should add an extra flavour of Soviet to fit the theme of your tanks (BMP and so on).

Cheers!

Cheers razgriz, still lacking a little something though, may try to get them even similar to yours.

Like the suggestion, could do some banners with stars & the hammer & sickle on them, also some Ushankas.

Could also write some better fluff haha. The original idea was they were rarely re supplied so they were good at armour repair (hence the difference between tank models) although the troops are a bit uniform now i suppose it could still work.

Nice! love conversions!

 STG wrote:
Nice! love conversions!

Cheers matey!

Just a quick update to show i'm not dead Still at the 2nd squad of vets. Painting white is a massive ballake, may change my scheme if i ever get many more troopers, although the tanks were always going to be randomly painted so that's one bonus.


Cheers, SA.

Painting masses of guardsmen is where all the fun is ... maybe not. keep at it!

 STG wrote:
Painting masses of guardsmen is where all the fun is ... maybe not. keep at it!

Haha, i'm sure there's a faster way. Thanks for the enthusiasm for me though.

Cheers, SA.

Had another battle, with the same armies.



By turn two there was only the dread and four marines left, plasma cannons really kicked arse this time.

Congrats on the win Comrade!

Nice work, everyone loves a bit of plasma, except when it's hitting you in the face.

EDC

shasolenzabi wrote:Congrats on the win Comrade!

For the mother...planet? Cheers

evildrcheese wrote:Nice work, everyone loves a bit of plasma, except when it's hitting you in the face.

EDC

Still got to love it though!

League of Extraordinary riveters scenery contest No.20 'Noise' project/ abandoned russ commissariat HQ!!!

So my entry into the the Loer contest 'noise' is a abandoned russ, which has been converted in to a field HQ for the commissariat.
The noise comes in with a pulpit and a public address system as what self respecting commissar wouldn't have that!

Its also going to have a tent entrance on the side and be covered in propaganda posters as i saw some a while ago and want to try them, and its the commissariat.
I chose the tank because it fits into my armies theme well and i get to use up the really awe full mist casts.

If you haven't checked out the comp yet DO! http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/702469.page


corrugated steal (card) will be used a lot in this build as its easy and has that bodge feel.


The basic shape along with the frame for the tarp.


Left the door open a bit to give some depth.


Soaked a small piece of linen in pva and glue, i hope this will give it some strength, and be a dam sight easier than sculpting it from green stuff.


So far so good, just got wait for it to dry.


'Spre-lings' and 'sprivets' on the platform.


Found a ladder, no point in making one when i have one i doubt i would ever use anyway


Noise machines!

nice! your working hard, good luck!

Cheers mate got really stuck in today, might mean i actually finish it

I have to get some work started on my sound making entry. Had to help out with a kit of the RMS Titanic

Sounds time consuming, a model of a ship that size is still a model but... still, the titanic. Can't wait will keep an eye to your thread.

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Sounds time consuming, a model of a ship that size is still a model but... still, the titanic. Can't wait will keep an eye to your thread.

It took, most of Friday-Saturday up. Pre-colored parts, so the model can be used Monday for his presentation.

Finished the modelling part for my entry, added the speakers some fortification, a pulpit and the wire. Now for painting.


Also bought this jem of a model as i needed a tech priest for my formation. Really amazing detail and a fun model, very pleased will be bying from warex-minis in the future.

Started painting it up, tiring my hand at some rust. It's coming along but i think i need to do vary the colour of the corrugated sheets from that of the tanks to make it stand out more, i'm think brown wash. Also my plan was to put red sand down but the plater of Paris has made a mildly convincing quagmire, so i'm not sure where to go with that.




Anyway, its a good start and now i can play around with some propaganda posters.

looks pretty cool, i think that a bit of sand on the base certainly wouldnt hurt though.

I like the way the latest project is coming along, liking the double flame thrower head as well.

Terrain piece is looking really good. The weathering came out nicely

STG wrote:looks pretty cool, i think that a bit of sand on the base certainly wouldnt hurt though.

Will take your advice and do that!

Alaricuk wrote:I like the way the latest project is coming along, liking the double flame thrower head as well.

Cheers dude, Really need to get my moulds out.

Invicta wrote:Terrain piece is looking really good. The weathering came out nicely

Thank you very much.

Propaganda & sand

Printed some posters i got off the goggle, some cool ideas hear. I guessed the size when printing them and some came out better than others, on the whole a little big. I shall also try and come up with some originals at some point for a bit of fun. In the mean time i made do with these splendid designs.



Realised i had to pick light ones to contrast all that red and orange, then cut them and dipped them in pva & water. For the front i wanted some thing big and a but cheesy so i went with the female commissar on the tank and then filled the gap with a mundane one. The notice board behind the pulpit i just tried to get a often used feel by sticking over the top of each other.



There was a nice flat piece on the side of the tank so i put my fave poster there, also with a mundane one under the ladders. There is also some on the back which il et some pics of when i finish.



and finally i sanded it with red Golgotha sand.

Looking good!

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Looking good!

Cheers should be finished on time

Nice mate

 STG wrote:
Nice mate

Cheers man, got the finished piece here.

Comissariat Outost

So here is the finished piece that spent i tonight sorting out for the now extended deadline Really i just needed to get it sorted and photoed before the weekend haha, or it would never have been finished. I'm just glad i managed to get it done really! It might not be the best painted or have the most interesting features but its my 1st themed piece and i'm quite prod. Gloat, Gloat.

Also wrote a bit of fluff, enjoy!
In the deep deserts of Golgotha, where the red sand is so fine it can enter a man’s pours and degrade his body causing serious illness or even death, if left untreated. In those high deserts where the dust is so fine it enters the power plants of tanks and shuts them down, at the least desired times. In those red dunes where dust so inescapable that it turned the very skin on the enemy red, lies wrecks from both sides. In particular a tank that gave up on her crew and was left to rust until it would be consumed by the sands. But war is never far away on Golgotha and it wasn’t long until war came back to reclaim it.. To re-purpose it , into a tool for the Emperor once more. A commissart forward base. A place where the heroic & feared commissar’s can get a hot caffeine and address the troops with rousing speeches! Where the latest news of loved and hated can be seen. A place where the men can feel safe knowing the watchful eye is upon them. A place where they know if there found lacking in duty they will meet there end as a reminder to the rest. Their blood lost in the sand.

stonned_astartes,

Well if you wanted to capture the theme: "In the deep deserts of Golgotha, where the red sand is so fine it can enter a man’s pours and degrade his body causing serious illness or even death..." Then you did with the terrain.

Cheers,

CB

Captain Brown wrote:
stonned_astartes,

Well if you wanted to capture the theme: "In the deep deserts of Golgotha, where the red sand is so fine it can enter a man’s pours and degrade his body causing serious illness or even death..." Then you did with the terrain.

Cheers,

CB

Haha, brilliant, don't think i could ask for a better out come Cheers mate!

Dang, I think so far it is gonna be between you and Cam, my pylons do not come close to what you two made.

I don't know, size doesn't matter and all that. And they are very well done.

 stonned_astartes wrote:
I don't know, size doesn't matter and all that. And they are very well done.

Thank you! the trick is that all three entries so far have their charms.

some quick tank schemes, if i can find one i like i can wip out most of the tanks and it might inspire me to do some more tanks, got the next couple of models all lined up. just have to remind myself that wiping together a chassis isn't all that difficult. Also if i could stop focusing on my god dam orks :L Thinking an entire army rehaul really, go orange and bone, go with the original tankers theme.

Anyway hear are a few ideas, might do some more and they might not all have the same schema anyway.



I'm thinking this one but with less cream.

Hmmm, go in between the sizes of the light color, not too thin, and not so thick, just my 2 thrones

Your 2 thrones are worth many more than most i feel vik.

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Your 2 thrones are worth many more than most i feel vik.

Thanks, but I'm not Vik. LOL!

 shasolenzabi wrote:

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Your 2 thrones are worth many more than most i feel vik.

Thanks, but I'm not Vik. LOL!

dam the late night posting.

 stonned_astartes wrote:

 shasolenzabi wrote:

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Your 2 thrones are worth many more than most i feel vik.

Thanks, but I'm not Vik. LOL!

dam the late night posting.

Yeah, once the eyes are sandy feeling and you get blurry vision, it is bed time for sure!

Not been up to much recently but started on another tank. This ones a annihilator, using the other bit of chassis from the freya russ. Also need to make a double auto cannon turret at some point.

annihilator tank

With the possibility of a game looming and my orks being no wear near playable numbers, i got a sudden rush of motivation to finish the annihilator tank!

Hopefully this lass-cannon bristling thug will be the armour killer of legends!!

turns out it wasn't that far off finishing in reality, especially with the lazy hull mount and the cool new sweeping round bit. That and the low stance of it gives it a really menacing feel to it, hope it will serve me well.







Thanks for looking S_a

very nice, looking forward to seeing it painted up

That Annihilator looks amazingly brutal!

The propaganda posters make it! Just read through the blog keep it up!

@stg cheers man, me too decide on colors is hard. Thinking of orange and bone.
@shaz cheers, think the double barrels look particularly good
@auxillion cheers man! Will do

Some bolter stand in for my tanks

Exterminator turret, meaning all 5 of my russes have turrets... 1 year in

Liking the look of that.

As the work all looks good, time taken is a plus then!

@ Alrick - Cheers, its simple but as often is the way, it also works.
@shas - Yes i suppose your right, wouldn't be worth it if it were done in a hurry anyway.

So been a productive few days in the manafactorium, spurred on by an up coming game. Fluf for it is in the works, so stay tuned.

Any way i finally got around to painting my tech priestess, spent bloody hours on this model as i really wanted to do it justice. It's got some lovely detail so iv'e been putting off until i had the proper motivation. Really pleased with it, possibly my best painted model to date. Oh yeah.









Also got back into my troops, i think my problem was that the jarheads all look to uniform; no individuality so no motivation. However these new guys and hopefully some more to come are brimming with style. The 1st is my new section commander, although will double as a scion sgt when needed. I swapped his pistol out with a empire one, which counts as some old archotech pistol. The scion sword arm cut and twisted & a cape with a hood. A hood with a helmet? Yes, 'cos hes bad ass.

Second is a bloke with a Jazial, and a helmet plume. I made the Jazail for a bit of fun but it looks so good its had to be used. That and the cape and plume he looks quite regal so i will use him as a master of ordnance or a scion if a master of ordnance is not needed. I would also like to add more jazails to my army as there flipping cool.

Third guy is a melta but added some dynamic posing again using the sgts pistil. Wasn't sure about the rifle slung over his back but he needed something.
Also a couple of heavy flamers.



















& for the tanks i boshed out a couple of melta sponsoons (not very good), and found a not to bad vehicle scheme.

really like those three guardsmen. kitbashing/converting is definietly my favourite part of the hobby. the long las rifle is awesome!

Nice looking infantry and I like the pattern on the tank.

@stg - cheers man, I'm very much inclined to agree. Painting can drag on unless the model is good to start with.
@gitz - cheers, to bosh out the rest now.
Batch painting, not sure if they will progress much further than this before the game but it's better than doing the huker.

Ah, batch painting will help when doing massed numbers of tanks!

Base colours done, but i might get the other to this sort of stage before i start weathering, muddying & highlighting.

progress is progress. can't really see very well bc of the lighting but the stripes look decent mate.

@stg - very true, yeah need to sort out ny lighting. There is no detail it's all just block colors but thanks, it was the stripes I was showing off so it's nice to know they work. Infantry next I guess.

Repainted a squad of shotgun veterans to mach my new livery, no amazing as i was going for speed over detail so iv'e only done a few layers. Because i absolutely hate painting silver iv'e done all the metallic bits in grey and i think iv'e pulled it off...

I might not actually use these guys for a while as my current list only warrants a command squad, which i'll move on to next. Nice to have them done and dusted though.





Cheers for looking.

Yep, I'd say the grey works fine.

Nice mate, impressive you've pumped out that many dudes in a short period of time.
I too hate painting metallics, ngl I didn't even noticed it was gray.

@Gitz - Thanks for the feed back mate.
@Stg - Sweet, defiantly pulled it off then haha, maybe you should give it a try. & cheers should have those two tanks up soon. Just need to do highlights and sand. might try and find sponge and do some rust.

Also as you may or may not have noticed completely rethought the thread and did a new intro. From this day on my Guard shall be the Gunheads!

Nice job on the shotgun vets.

EDC

Cheers EDC

Done some progress on the tanks, Done they metals(greys) and washed the armour down. Currently in the process of going back over the wash to thick out the camo then on to highlighting.







Vague attempt osl.

Those are looking really good man.

Very nice! Liking the reddish and cream camo.

Nice mate, russes looking good

@gitz - thanks man, hears the finished product.
@shas - thanks, its bone & red leather washed with brown then highlighted with white/bone & red leather/bright-orange.
@stg - cheers mate, you've set a high standerd for me to follow. enjoy.
Finished the annihilator & exterminator. Tried adding the sand and think it went okay.

They look terriffic!

The Grey is an interesting change from metallic...makes your tanks and troopers look unique.

My two cents,

CB

Lovely looking tanks dude.

EDC

@Gitz - Cheers man, hope you had a good time at adepticon.
@CB - Cheers! it almost reminds me of borderlands, were everything is cartoon and outlined but also 3d.
@EDC - Thanks man, hopefully do some more in the next couple of months.

Command squad done (mostly)

Okay so finished the commander, a melta trooper and the master of ordinance, and two flamers, which one or both will be swapped out into the vets for another melta for the cs. Not my bext painting but there done! and at this point that is more important. Noticed i had lacked some shrubbery from the previous models so added a few pieces to these guys.

Good job on that command squad! like the conversions on them.
The shrubbery makes the bases more interesting too!

I did indeed SA, thanks for the good wishes. Thanks for the cool squad too, nice work!

@stg - Cheers bro, Not as good as yours though.
@Gitz - Thanks man.

So in my effort for finishing the models I've currently got i added a bit to my 1st tank. Adding these bits onto the sides is something i've been thinking about doing for a long time & i'm pleased with the results.

Good start, the side additions definitely improve the look. needs some rivets though.

@stg - your right and your right. I'll get on that.

Been some time, figured time to drop in and look. Troops are looking good, and the tanks are also shaping out nicely!

Yes! the side guards/storage need rivets, and possibly stowage doors! No pressure.

Wowzers! As a fellow Imperial Guard painter / modeller, i absolutely love your work; very creative and detailed!

@shaz - cheers man, yeah i forgot and started painting but I will.

@privatebenjimin - cheers man, really appreciated.

I’m back

As i mentioned in my other thread I’ve been moving out and settling down but I’m now back on the horse.

I’m trying to improve my painting skills on the figures so I’m going to try and paint a few old school more complex camo schemes. 1st up necromundian 8th regiment. Inspired by captain browns army.






I've made progress on the APC's, painted the camo and the metals, just got to do some highlighting, screens, tyres, wreathing, sand...

APC's done

Finished the APC's to a level i'm happy with, they haven't been mudded or covered in battle damage but there painted to a playable level.





The 1st one has more going on as i was trying to make it more GW, so its got a few extra aquilas and a light.











The second one I wanted more uniform and think look better, apart from i lost a tyre. Well done me.

Great paint scheme you have going on here. Loving the tanks!

Incredibly nitpicky but I think you may have the first two wheels on this APC the wrong way round




Also If you are looking for good weathering stuff I swear by FW weathering powders and also a little bit of sponge for chips and battle damage.

Keep up the good work!

 Commander Cain wrote:
Great paint scheme you have going on here. Loving the tanks!

Incredibly nitpicky but I think you may have the first two wheels on this APC the wrong way round




Also If you are looking for good weathering stuff I swear by FW weathering powders and also a little bit of sponge for chips and battle damage.

Keep up the good work!

Opps! Hahaha! That's fantastic I'm so glad you noticed that, I'm really not sure how long it would have taken me to realise.
Thanks for kind words, hard to find a dessert camo that works for me. Thanks for the sponge tip, reminded me i need to get one, not sure i can afford weathering powder from fw, I imagine its quite costly.

Damn, that's a lot of BTR tanks ... want to collect a metal Mordian Iron Guard army to go with it?

Really like the finished product sa. Excellent work.

@PrivateBenjamin - Cheers man, its only two btw haha. Hmm... why? have you got one to sell haha? I'm thinking about getting some shocktroopers as you know anyway. Although I've just given myself loads more work todo before i start with that.

@Gitzsplitts - Thanks man, now I think about it they took a long time haha. One of the 1st things on this blog infact.

Reinforcements have arrived

So even though I've still got 3 tanks to paint and 1 squad could do with a repaint, I've gone ahead and spent money I shouldn't have on pretty much another whole army! I bought one used force and a couple of tanks of ebay (curse you late night drunk ebay shopping!), and a brand new start collecting astra militarium box. This gives me a total count of this perchance at:

2 more russ's
3 chimera
4 heavy weapons squads
45 gaurdsmen
1 commissar





The idea for the chimeras is to modify them with swap-able turrets on the rear hatches to make them into basilisks/hydras/wyverns when needed.



One of the tanks is going to become the new Pask with a Punisher and melta-cannons and the other the same or autocannons.





Not sure about the troops, may just sell them on, might strip them down and practice painting with them, try and get to a level where i could do commissions maybe. But atm i don't really have much use for them as I got another 20 or so from my friend a while back and i don't really use blobs.

Anyway thought i would share my latest loot and plans, hopefully I'll make a star next week as I'm away all weekend.

The stripping begins!

The painting on these guys is a bit thick to paint over so I wanted to strip them down, read a few tutorials on here but most of them were from the states, where its much easier to get nasty chemicals, and besides we have different brands over here. So i did a little more research and found this http://gravengames.co.uk/stripping-paint-from-warhammer-and-other-miniatures-using-dettol/ and it said to use Dettol antiseptic, so i went and got myselft a bottle (£3.50) and liberated a toothbrush from the bathroom, switching to wooden ones now anyway (better for the environment apparently).



Then I found an appropriate container and put my men to soak. (will be good to get all that battlefield mud off them anyway). Me being impatient as always i waited a whole 10mins before i gave one of them a scrubbing and almost all of the paint came off! going to leave them over night and come back to them and see how well there doing, I'm expecting them to be quite easy from what I've experienced so far. Top marks for Dettol so far.

Not bad for only a 10 minute de-painting!

@Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll - Yeah no I was impressed.

Results of the Dettol bath

I scrubbed them up with gloves on (plastic bags), then soaked them in warm water and scrubbed them down with fairy liquid. I had 35 blokes to do and did them in two halfs, by the time I was doing the second half i wasn't putting as much time into the scrubbing and I did notice there where small beads of paint everywhere, but after the primer it was fine.





I picked out 10 guys that where built well and removed the scree lines and primed them up for painting.

Wow, you enjoy a challenge eh!



Keep up the great work, are the tanks going to be painted similar to the APC's ?

@private Benjamin - Yeah, I have a habit of biting off more than i can chew & then starting another project half way through.

That was the plan but I'm already board of this scheme so I was thinking i might try something like this



And then something combining the two on some of the russes. Red and tan on the boss manybe and white and tan on the plasma russ... If I ever get there.

I do like that two tone camo pattern- makes the whole color scheme more lively. Nothing wrong with single color paint schemes, of course- but I feel that they need good weathering and rusting, otherwise the fine details kind of fade into the carpet, as it were. Stay focused!

@meer_cat - Thanks, I just got all my painted minis together (painted in the same scheme that is) as I hadn't done it yet; and i was bloody pleased with the look so far! Nice to have some of an army looking coherent for a change haha! Wanting the rest of the army looking like this will keep me focused now, thanks!

I would say I noticed a lack of weathering though, I must attack them with a sponge!

Had to take a pic though...

Hey man, good to see that your back to giving the guard some love!
cool to see the group shot of all the painted dudes together, best of luck with the new project!

@stg - cheers man, good to be back at it tbf! Yeah, thanks I still keeping sine soviet themes but I just stole the name from the book tbf, not really doing it by the book.

How’s the 404 doing? I will have a look at your thread.

They blend with the carpet so well... nearly invisible!

@gitz - cheers mate, it’s there natural habitat.

Ebay rescue pips

So this is where I am currently with the stuff I got from ebay, half of that squad is ALMOST painted. I just need to do there camo. I've painted these in the Necromudian 8th spiders because I ever since cpt browns blog I've really liked them; the colour scheme works and is radically different to the vanilla Canadians. And as i'm trying to push my painting skills they seemed like a good start as there fun to paint and they looked really hard to do.

Think the photos need zooming in on to get any detail.











Think its time I get a light box and a better camera...

Just a little up date, started blocking out the 2nd half of the necromundian squad.



And i bought a squad of steel legion after all that talk about them.

More wips
1st up the necromudians, done all of the painting on these guys except the camo, nice to see the whole squad looking together.



Also got my tanks out and started cleaning some of them up by stripping of the extras. Mocked up the punnisher and gave its scoop to the 3rd chimera. I also swapped the chermas bolter for a flamer so the all have flamers aswell as scoops.





Cheers for looking.

the brown on the necromundans boots is a real nice touch.
Your painting skills are definiteyl getting better, they look cool as!

stonned_astartes,

The Necromundians are looking good. Far superior to your test, so your aim to improve your painting is definitely paying off.

Cheers,

CB - Fellow Necromundian Guard Player

@STG - Thanks mate, means a lot to have my progress noticed. Actually got that part of the uniform from Captain brown.

@Captain Brown - What an honer sir Yes, the new guys where done after watching a few more painting vids, and careful study of your army of course. Thanks for the comet.

I've actually just finished the camo on the squad, I made it a lot smaller this time. Took about 3 hours too do the 10 men as i carefully selected where every stripe would go. Hopefully just some basing and maybe a few lights to do and they should be done!



And I'm also half way through soaking the russ in deltol. However I've come up against a problem, when I'm washing the gunk off it leaves so much paint gunk on the tooth brush it smears it back on to the model in the final stages of cleaning! I have a feeling the detol is to saturated maybe and either need straining or just throwing away.

For the love of mike, mate get some Isopropyl Alcohol. Or Methylated spirits, works faster and cleaner.

@Cam - I didn't know, I didn't know!

Yeah bud. You don't have to soak the items, just take a little care, but a toothbrush and scrub straight off bud. Residue evaporates off too.

Also, don't ever introduce water into the mix, there's some sort of reaction and it makes the paint gunky, sticky, and glue like, like you're experiencing. You have to rinse in either more dettol, or isopropyl otherwise it's a proper ballache.

stonned_astartes,

I think it is time to replace your cleaner.

My two cents,

CB

Ah fair enough, I've just tried scrubbing some guys with some Isopropyl Alcohol in spray form I had sitting around for cleaning electrical components and the stuff. Didn't seem to work as well but might be easier if it wasn't in spray form. But thanks for the advice about the water, won't do that again! I will get some more cleaning solution as well and have another scrub. Cheers for the help on this guys.

On another note I based the squad.

Started on one of the annihilators, along with striping down the other squad of vets to re-paint.



Base layers done.




Wash layer done.

Progress marches on!

@Gitz - Yeasss, and here is some more progress.

I've got two Leman Russ in the post, how do you do camo stripes? Is it tape?

[Expletive Deleted]-Gun looks awesome.

@excommunicatus - (expletive deleteative) cheers mate! I love the russ, will look to see what you do with them. Na, it’s all freehand, so I can get the curves.

stonned_astartes,

The painted Guard Squad and the tank are great.

Cheers,

CB

@captain brown - Thanks mate, the long war and all that...

Camo highlights done, could be a bit smoother but i'm going for speed over quality with this one. I did find that doing confident quick strokes worked better than feathering the lines in though.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Metallics done.

Another late night update, had this finished this afternoon but then I started messing around with osl. Needless to say as a 1st attempt thing have not gone so well, so I left it to come back too. Looks ok from the side and i think the turret looks okay, but the front of the tank i think is ott. It will need re-painting.

Just been remodelling a few bits on the veterans, making sure they all have double shoulder pads and windbreakers. Made the sgt from a ebay rescue model, looks a bit different from the normal one you constantly see. Then I added a few bit to the back of the annihilator I did a while ago to give it a bit more realism while I glued a track secion back on that had fallen off.

Lots of win on here, great work.

So, FWIW, I think the OSL glow from the [Expletive Deleted]-Gun can be salvaged. I think the biggest problem is that it's way too harsh and I think that if you toned it down around the edges and lightened it up in the middle it would work.

@cam - cheers boss, I shall plough on. Every day my army comes a little closer to being whole.

@excommunicatus - That's actually a real help mate wasn't sure where i was going wrong, thanks! Although Iv'e basically just gotten rid off the glow on the hull. But it will be usefull for next time. Thanks.

Here is what it looks like currently.



And started painting the veteran squad, although I would like to get some more paint before I continue. Ineed a brown wash and Iv'e switched colours because the old ones ran out but after painting the tank I noticed that they are different enough to notice. I do like the new colours though so might carry on as they are close enough to be in the same army.

stonned_astartes,

The toned down Plasma glow is superior in my humble opinion.

Cheers,

CB

I really like the colour scheme of your army, the camo looks great! The vets look really cool too and I'm sure the wash will tone them down to match the rest of your army.

I agree with the above about the toned down OSL, it does look better, although maybe a slight touch of light would hit the stubber mount as well, but that's only nitpicking.

I also like the new OSL but still say go big or go home.

You've got a tank sat there with his lad out, you might as well do an OTT OSL to go with it.

Also, sorry if I missed this but are those SM Scout shotgun arms? How do they fit the Cadian torsos?

@captain brown - Thanks, it did look rather like a child had attacked it with a paint brush before

@Tyranid Horde - Cheers mate, they have been through a few iterations, but i like this one too. I shall try and do a comparison shot of the two take on the scheme if i can. Yeah i think your right it needs a little more on the Osl.

@Excommunicatus - Hahaha yeah it is rather. I think i'll add a bit more more osl but I anymore and i would have to change the whole look of the model, but I do see where your coming from.

Yes tey are, one of the 1st things I did all those years ago. If I remember they fit okay but i mate the mistake of making them with the cheepo easy to make guardsmen so i think they could come out better with the normal dudes.

Finally carved out some modelling time(should have been doing course work but hey ho) and got to use some shade paint which is what games workshop calls a wash, and I have to say I love it haha. Here’s where the vets are.

So these guys are rockin a more tan / orangey kinda colour scheme compared to the necromundans and the red and white dudes from earlier in the thread.

So what's the deal, you getting a bunch of different regiments togther or have you just changed your mind on a scheme?

I do like what's going on though, looks good!

I just got slightly different pains by accident when the old ones ran out, think i switched from velo to game colour or something. As for the necromundians I really just wanted to see how well i could paint if i put my mind to it. Might do a few more schemes just for fun in the future.

After doing course work I managed to dredge up some more of the red-brown and got some more painting done on the vetts and the last of the built tanks.





So not a miniature update but a gaming update for sure. Just got myself 4x4 foot of flat gaming surface in the form of two fold out tables. Pretty chuffed with these, they cost around £45 for the two and there sturdy with a good weight to them, they fold up, have handles and fit in my living room well. I'm sure most hard core games have some of these already but I've never had dedicated playing spaces so its nice too have.

My plan is just to spray paint them a sandy colour and put the terrain pieces straight on them, no matt for now.

It's too bad you disabled the voting on this photo, the custom tank on the right is awesome work sir!

@Private Benjamin - Ah cheers man, i'll finish it and then you can vote? aha

Finished the vet squad

Yep painted up those 8 guys so now both of my vets squads are done and the transports. Although with the new codex i'm looking at getting plasma guns haha, oh well there still cool and the shotguns pack more of a punch. Got 30 guys painted up now.

Everything is looking good.

May I suggest a few things that I think will help your painting

Move to a grey Primer. With the lighter colours, the black is coming through

Thin your paints. More Layers >Thickness

I know you are using a brush so I wont suggest getting an airbrush just for the tanks. Are you using cans to prime your models? Then maybe a simple preshade might help them

Either way, I like what you are doing here, You have painted more guard than I have so far.

Leep up the good work

I really enjoyed reading "Gunheads" a few years ago, may have to give it another go!

I love the colour scheme that you've gone for here. Your painting is definitely improving - the tanks are especially good!

Keep up the Emperor's good work!

Army is coming along nicely.

Cheers,

CB

@Minigiant - Thanks man, since I primed all the tanks in black a year or so ago I have moved to a white primer and it's certainly better. I shall try doing more layers as I currently aim for only one of each paints. Thanks again I hope you visit again and see some progression

@Cosmic - Thanks mate, took me a long time to come up with it on the old dawn of war games aha. Yeah, it really captured my imagination all them tanks breaking through the orks, a good read.

@CB - Thanks man, close too all my finished miniatures painted.

Sterted pn my next tank, a new punnisher.

So this one is planned to have a huge amo reserve at the back of the tank as I imagine punishers suffer similar problems with tanks equipped with vulcan-megabolters; they run out of amo very fast due to there immense fire rate. I hope it will look something like this...



Obviously iv'e found this on the internet, but when I stumbled across this I instantly wanted to make one similar. It looks like a chimera hull on russ tracks, but I will make the rear section myself. So without further adieu.

I started by making the gun fit on the turret as its not quite the right russ model This is what Iv'e ended up with so far. I need to add extra armour, scopes, a light ossible a stubber. I did notice the turret out of the start collecting box is thinner than the stand alone box.



Next i took the rear end off the russ then stuck the rest together to give it some structure.





Then i started messing around, although it does look quite cool, Maybe a future design inspiration?




I also Painted my tables! On the cheep with emulsion paint, cost me about £3. But then I couldn't resist taking a shot of my tanks.







And while they where out I took that comparison shot.



Cheers for looking!

They are looking good bud. The conversion will be very interesting. The example you gave looks to be a fairly simple swap, but you will do better scratching up a custom back end.

Boshed this out tonight. More photos tomorrow.

The king punisher!

Had a bout of inspiration last evening and except the body which I had already build the previous night, I stayed up to the small hours of it last night and finished it. Slightly to the annoyance of the gf. The king punsiher is my commander tank (as yet un-named), so its got lots of fills and a huge heavy stubber with a shouting bloke on the end of it. It’s mid engined (just like a Lamborghini). And the rear sections are just two huge amp hoppers for the gattling gun as it’s uses a huge amount of munitions. And with the double stub gun front mount (counts as heavy bolter) it’s got plenty of Dakka!

Interesting conversion there stonned_astartes.

Cheers,

CB

Nice booty, great conversion bud.

looks dope, love a russ with a bit of extra love put into it

Cheers all i'm very pleased with my king punisher.

And for something i'm not so proud of some lazy wyvern conversions

stonned_astartes,

The mortar racks need some more substance...

My two cents,

CB

Captain Brown wrote:
stonned_astartes,

The mortar racks need some more substance...

My two cents,

CB

Yes! yes they do. I sat down to model some proper ones but struggled to put the effort in so i gave up.

Did some more painting on the 2nd Executioner, base coasted and shaded.

Excellent builds going on he re- I'll be checking in to watch more frequently.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Excellent builds going on he re- I'll be checking in to watch more frequently.

Thanks my man.

Had another go at the vyverns. So this is my prototype stormshard mortar, I think the body is a bit big and lacks detail compared to the original. But as I will have to do 12 of them I want them to not be too time consuming and easy to replicate. I'm also not sure how 4 of them will look together let alone 12, as i'm not the most precise scratch builder. Reckon i'll be able to pull the rest of the turret off easily enough if i simplify the mechanisms. Considering weather its worth the time & effort to build them compared to buying them. Added a shot of it with a chimera for scale. Thoughts?

I think the new build looks really good- and don't under-estimate the magnifying effect of multiple units on each vehicle! The old Napoleonic painters taught me 'in mass lies perfection', meaning you put enough of anything in one place, the unit looks good because the eye can't take in all the detail.

When all four are mounted on their carousel, maybe you might consider running a firing actuator cable into each mortar unit?

They look good though- I like 'em!

 Meer_Cat wrote:
I think the new build looks really good- and don't under-estimate the magnifying effect of multiple units on each vehicle! The old Napoleonic painters taught me 'in mass lies perfection', meaning you put enough of anything in one place, the unit looks good because the eye can't take in all the detail.

When all four are mounted on their carousel, maybe you might consider running a firing actuator cable into each mortar unit?

They look good though- I like 'em!

Sound advice! Maybe i will not hide in fear from this task! thanks.

I had started looking at this from ramshakle games both as a possible purchase but maybe as inspiration.

_Very_ nice! And all self-contained- no need for loose cables on a design like that. Although, it is in keeping with the noble Guard tradition of bringing horses, rivets and sometimes fixed artillery to battlefields, even in the 41st Millennium

 Meer_Cat wrote:
_Very_ nice! And all self-contained- no need for loose cables on a design like that. Although, it is in keeping with the noble Guard tradition of bringing horses, rivets and sometimes fixed artillery to battlefields, even in the 41st Millennium

Haha yeah 40k years of evolution and still in ww 2 :L

My progress with the cupola so far.

I always envy to people who can do such things, like wyvern upgrade on chimera, because when I needed 3rd wyvern in roster, I bought old forge world hydra upgrade, and make droppod's rocket pads as mortars, and it was pain to find four drop pod rocket pads


Want to see on result of your cool work!

That looks awesome mate well done. I have seen someone just chop the barrels of the fw hydra and use it like that but that’s much cooler. Cheers for coments more soon.

The cupola build is terrific- lots of angles and curves- not easy to do!

 Meer_Cat wrote:
The cupola build is terrific- lots of angles and curves- not easy to do!

Cheers boss, Haven't really progressed with it much apart from cutting the gun barrels.



I did manage to get my king punnisher based and washed though, I wanted to get it to this level so that could play with it! Yes i finally had a game with my army, with a fun and enthusiastic opponent! Was a very enjoyable experience even though we are complete novices who haven't really played since maybe 4-5th ed properly and with only 7th ed rule book, the internet and 8th ed codexs to play with What we ended up playing was a cross between all three and some extra on top! We both came away convinced to learn the rules properly and have another game.

I at 1st tried to field just 6 russes in a spearhead detachment for a 1000pts (roughly) game but my opponent (admech) said he didn't have much ant-tank... so i swapped one out one for two vet squads. One with lassguns one with shotguns and meltas. I'm still not entirely sure if this wasn't a trick or if he actually had no idea as it turns out ad-mech have some seriously devastating anti-tank. Especially as he fielded two war glaives w/meltalances and a dune crawler with what can only be described as a really BFG, Which later destroyed a russ in two shots! Some rangers, vangards, tech-magi guy and a draconian.



Turn 1
We just ended up going with annihilation as we suck and it was simpler. I got 1st go so i pushed my punnishers up the field and created a killzone at the cross roads, along with my troops because they cant shoot very far (useless layabouts). Being nice I decided to only shot half of his troops with my punishers and executioners & waste the other shots on the wrong things. Like tiring to shoot a warglaive with a gattling cannon and wasting my plasma shots on his rangers. My annihilator missed dune crawler. With all 5 shots In retaliation he missed with his dune crawler war glaives. He also did the opposite things he should have with the skitarii, moved up with the shooty unit and stayed put with the combat(ish) unit he later confessed. He then assaulted my tank commander from behind with the dragoon.





Turn 2
My annihilator continued to trade shot with the dune crawler doing some damage but then getting knocked down 6 wounds from one shot in retaliation! I charged with my infantry instead of shooting (huge mistake) ! squad into some rangers locking them up until a war glaive charge in and killed all 10 of them with one swing (possibly the funniest moment of the game) and the dragoon, locking them up to but doing some damage. (but probably not as much as if i had just rapid fired the ).







Turn 3
My Punnishers finished off his infantry, and then became utterly useless having no anti-tank capability. The long range tank duel between the dune crawler and my annihilator continued, ending with my russ in ruins. The glavies started to rumble forwards very menacingly and we soon learnt how scary they are for my russes. The melee between the dragoon and the vets ended when they all died leaving the dragoon on one wound.





Turn 4
I got serious with my executioners and ruined one of his glavies, he got serious with his glaives and blew up one of my punnishers, which exploded, wounding two other! this was after the dragoon shrugging of 43 shots from my commander and living.



Turn 5
His techno-magos guy took two wounds from my punnisher but healed them back and i finally killed his dragoon. We then called it a draw as I realized i had to go to work and we both had 3 models left.

It was a very enjoyable experience where we both learnt a lot about our armies and each others, and some rules, sort of. we left both keen to come back soon a try again.
I learnt the punnisher cannon is great against your average troops but useless after that so i'm going to ad some plasma sponsoons. Also not to carge with my troops

Today my space marine plasma guns arrived so I cranked all 10 of them out this evening. As soon as I started however I got distracted and made some more objective markers out of the spare parts I have so I did them too. I then managed to base coast them as well.



I found that arm set H on the gaurd spruce was the best due to the open palm, but I only had 5 lots left so i had to improvise with the rest as normal. One throwing a grande, one badass with a F@@K off knife and one guy going to point or bro fisting someone.

Who is he bro fisting? His friendly nehiborhood commissar?

Emperors will wrote:
Who is he bro fisting? His friendly nehiborhood commissar?

Commisar cuddles. I hear they where in the same phrat house.