Hello and greetings from Canada! Welcome to a work-in-progress dating back to 2013 .. Total Picture count so far: 366






One particular image in Codex Armageddon appealed to me; the first appearance of the "Death Korps of Krieg"





I've always wanted to field an Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum Steel Legion army, due to their equipment of full face mask rebreathers:












I had also collected a small assortment of metal Necromunda miniatures with the intention of running a Tech Gang; I read how Hive Gangers were recuited to not only serve the forces of the Imperium, but lead some units, was unique!

For many years the GW design studio played a game called Confrontation that was the precursor to Necromunda. There were many White Dwarf Scenarios and rule sets published before the final boxed version of Necromunda was released.

There were two different sets of miniatures designed for Confrontation/Necromunda. The more common one was the Marauder set designed by Trish and Aly Morrison, released at Games Day US 1991 and somewhat available for a short while after that.

The rarer ones are the Citadel ones, designers unknown (Mark Copplestone?), but the leaders are by Jes Goodwin. The Marauder gangs are all marked Marauder and coded MM110, but the leaders are marked GW91.


Confrontation Tech Gang:





My Company Command Squad # 1 would be led by "Underhive Scum With Plasma Pistol"





Accompanied by three Hive Gangers:





A re-programmed Pit Slave (Pit Slave Body 5 - clearly armed with Bolt Pistol) serves as Commissar of CCS 1 ;

This miniature is very reminiscent of "Mean Machine Angel" from the 1995 film "Judge Dredd" :






My Pit Slave Commissar received a metal " SERVITOR ARM 3" from the Space Marine Techmarine Servitor:





I also had an "Orlock Heavy with Heavy Bolter", which would be part of Company Command Squad 2:





To provide the Orlock Heavy Bolter with ammunition, I paired him with a Mark 1 metal Storm Trooper (with beret) holding Heavy Bolter ammo;
Two Mark 1 metal Storm Troopers (beret) with Plasma Gun filled out the second Company Command Squad:






The company commander for CCS 2 came from the old Imperial Army range, named SERGEANT LLOYD (BOLT PISTOL / SWORD ), and described as "POWER SWORD AND BOLT PISTOL" in the Imperial Guard range

In addition to Sergeant Lloyd, I recuited "Medic Pointer (Medic), Tpr. Lee (initially a HWT crewman, then promoted to (Master Of Ordnance) and Comm. Officer Schmidt (Master Of Ordnance) :

Really enjoy these retro pictures and exciting plans! Subbed

 lipsdapips wrote:
Really enjoy these retro pictures and exciting plans! Subbed

Hello and greetings, fellow Commonwealth citizen! Thank you for the kind words, the retro metal miniatures are my favourite as well!

My father served in the Canadian Forces, he was stationed at CFSME / CFB Chilliwack in Engineers during the '80s;
I myself served the 15th Field Royal Canadian Artillery in the '90s.

Having a huge interest in militaria, I did research and wanted to model my Steel Legion Army after the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WW1

There's no school like the old school- I'm an IG modeler too! I look forward to seeing this army develop.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
There's no school like the old school- I'm an IG modeler too! I look forward to seeing this army develop.

Thank you so much sir, I checked out your threads too, the custom tracked ammo carrier with crane is just awesome!



I've been trying to design this as a battle-forged 7th Edition Army, but the 8th Ed Detachments are more flexible and don't force me to field Platoonsof Infantry, just Squads.

However, many other Units are now Elites choices, such as Special Weapons Squads, Commissars, and Regimental Advisors.



In any event, It is my goal to build a Hive Ganger - led Steel Legion army with a "skeleton crew" of infantry and a slew of Heavy Weapons Teams.



I added more units with a similar paint scheme such as Rapier Laser Destroyers, and eventually even a Flyer Detachment; I have a Vendetta Gunship eBay Recovery P&M Blog

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/749735.page

Assembling Troop choices would the the start point for any Army; I prefer to acquire used miniatures rather than brand-new.

My specialty is recovering used miniatures from eBay, and as such I acquired the bulk of the Steel Legion army online

First off is two photos of a Steel Legion infantry squad, without and with slottabases.






Second is "Sergeant Lloyd" which was also acquired from eBay:






Although I much prefer working on the "blank canvas" that is brand new miniatures, I have a spot in my heart for butchered paint jobs.

This is an example of the painted and work-in-progress miniatures that I recover from eBay:

First order of business is to clean the miniatures; scrubbing with an old toothbrush, dish soap and warm water.

After allowing the miniatures to dry thoroughly (sometimes overnight), Spray Primer with Krylon Flat Black.

During the period of time where the miniatures are drying, I find it preferable to glue on Slottabases before spray priming.




AND IT BEGINS!!!




As you can see, I have a random assortment of brushes; the most recent are Army Builder brushes.
They are a great value being high quality for their price, the triangular handle prevents the brush rolling away while providing better grip.

Also I plan to use FolkArt Crackle Medium, which I have never used before. After reading about Agrellan Earth, I wanted to find an alternative to GW's product.




Here is a photo of more paints, showing the older white screw-off caps for the Inks and white flip-top caps for the Foundation Series:




My colour palette for the Steel Legion is mainly Green and Tan, with most weapons Blue and details picked up.

As an older painter / modeller, I still use some GW paints that are now out of production. I particularly enjoyed the original Citadel Inks and the Foundation Series.

Paint Range Compatibility can be found in a comprehensive, full-colour chart here on Dakkadakka: https://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart




HIVE GANGER STEEL LEGION COLOUR PALETTE:

Tan:

Base Coat: Iyanden Darksun
Layer: Averland Sunset
Wash: Devlan Mud Wash
Highlight: Bleached Bone


Green:

Base Coat: Knarloc Green
Layer: Dark Angels Green
Wash: Devlan Mud Wash
Highlight: Waaagh! Flesh


Blue:

Base Coat: Regal Blue
Layer: Macragge Blue
Highlight: Enchanted Blue


Brown:

Base Coat: Scorched Earth
Layer: Calthan Brown
Wash: Devlan Mud Wash
Highlight: Bestial Brown



" EVERYONE FIGHTS, NO-ONE QUITS ! "

As i was using "Battle-forged" rules to assemble the army, I needed a minimum of two troop choices.

Although most of the Imperial Guard metal Citadel Miniatures infantry squads are sold composed of a Sergeant, Special Weapon, and Heavy Weapons Team I acquired mine piece-meal,
so I painted the Steel Legion army in batches; first the lasgun-armed troopers, then Special Weapons, then Heavy Weapons Teams.



Because I am planning to field Heavy Weapons Teams, i would therefore need an Infantry Platoon with at least two Infantry Squads.
I assembled enough miniatures to field two Platoons with two Squads to satisfy the Troops requirement.






Here is the Steel Legion in close proximity having finished painting the "Rank & File" troops, Special Weapons and Missile Launcher HWT's.
A few candidates for the PCS and CCS Command Squads can be seen on the far end...







You may have noticed the Sergeants armed with Bolt Guns:

Time to introduce Heavy Weapons Teams to the army. I mentioned before that I acquired my miniatures piece-meal,
the main reason being that I did not want to use the Missile Launcher HWT with the Infantry Squad; the range and use of the weapon
would not be an ideal pairing with the lasgun-armed troopers.

I envisioned a "defense in depth", with heavier weapons covering the front-line troops; as such, I planned to include a
Heavy Bolter HWT with each Infantry Squad, and Missile Launcher HWT's as Support.

Here are some "Before" photos of Steel Legion Heavy Bolter HWT's recovered from eBay:






Here are the Steel Legion Heavy Bolter HWT's refurbished for the army:



The Heavy Bolter HWT's were painted in the Steel Legion colour palette, then areas of the base were painted Flat Black in preparation for crackle medium application.

The areas painted black were then given a coat of FolkArt Crackle Medium

Nice - quite the collection so gar - that must weigh a few pounds. Always nice to see the IG get some love

 IGtR= wrote:
Nice - quite the collection so gar - that must weigh a few pounds. Always nice to see the IG get some love

Thank you for the kind words, and also for taking the time to check out a buncha oldhammer that does weigh quite a bit!

In fact, i hunted down some KR Multicase with Imperial Guard foam so as to pack and transport the finished army...







I bought some resin "Spent Ammo Casings" from Anvil Industry, which makes some fantastic products.



Here is a link to the Anvil Industry website: http://anvilindustry.co.uk

Here is a link to the Spent Ammo Casings: http://anvilindustry.co.uk/Empty-Ammo-Casings







Here are the HB HWT's; I allowed the base coat of FolkArt Crackle Medium to dry before applying a Layer of Bleached Bone and a Wash of Devlan Mud

The Spent Ammo Casings were glued down and given a Base coat by paint-brush, Black Primer ( sorry for the crappy, shaky photos):



The spent ammo casings were then Drybrushed with Vallejo Model Color - Gold ( 996 ), then a Wash of Devlan mud and Highlighted with Gold again:

Infantry came out ace- that crackle finish stuff seems to have really done the trick! I use a lot of cheap craft paints thinned, and will look for some myself.

The heavy weapons are really good- the paint schemes and the earth tones you use don the bases really work together. Great stuff!

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Infantry came out ace- that crackle finish stuff seems to have really done the trick! I use a lot of cheap craft paints thinned, and will look for some myself.

The heavy weapons are really good- the paint schemes and the earth tones you use don the bases really work together. Great stuff!

Thank you again for checking in, and the comments sir!

There is a Thread in the "Painting & Modeling" Forum, it is titled " Crackle Paints vs Agrellan Earth: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/754662.page

I had a lot more success painting a gloss sealer over the flat black before applying on the FolkArt Crackle Medium.

Also, feel free to generously apply the FolkArt Crackle Medium, while allowing for a thick coat. Allow this to dry THOROUGHLY before painting on top coat colour.

I did purchase a Large sized pot ( 24 mL ) of GW's Agrellan Earth just to try out as I wasn't so thrilled with the effect on the HB HWT's.

Here is a much clearer photo out of my Storm Troopers album; the bases show home-made "Devil's Rope" or barbed wire, in addition to Spent Ammo Casings.





Another photo of the Heavy Bolter HWT's with painted barbed wire... 120mm Oval Trench Base Flying Stand is from "Models and Minis"




More information on the 120mm Oval Trench Flying Base can be found in my Imperial Guard Air Wing Blog, here is the link: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/757074.page



As you can see, I have started to assign the Steel Legion Missile Launcher HWT's to 60mm Round Bases, which are MDF or "Medium-Density Fibreboard":

Overview of the Hive Ganger Steel Legion:




First Platoon:

Infantry Squad: Sergeant (Bolter), Special Weapon (Plasma Gun), HWT (ML)
Infantry Squad: Sergeant (Bolter), Special Weapon (Plasma Gun), HWT (HB)

PCS #1:
Commissar (Bolt Pistol)
Commander with Ork head (Bolt Pistol)
Special Weapon (Grenade Launcher X 2)
Chainsaw Warrior HWT (Autocannon)




Company Command Squad #1:

At this point, I was intending to use Sergeant Lloyd as the CCS #1 Commisar.
Underhive Scum with Plasma Pistol = Company Commander
Bounty Hunter 2 = Special Weapon - Plasma Gun
Beret Stormtrooper = Special Weapon - Plasma Gun
Beret Stormtrooper = HB HWT Ammo Carrier
Orlock Heavy = Heavy Bolter HWT




Second Platoon:

Infantry Squad: Sergeant (Bolter), Special Weapon (Plasma Gun), HWT (ML)
Infantry Squad: Sergeant (Bolter), Special Weapon (Plasma Gun), HWT (HB)

PCS #2:
Commissar (Bolt Pistol)
Commander with Ork head (Bolt Pistol)
Special Weapon (Grenade Launcher X 2)
Chainsaw Warrior HWT (ML)





Company Command Squad #2:

Commissar
Chainsaw Warrior = CCS #2 Commander
Last Chancer "Brains" = Comm-Link
Last Chancer "Animal" = Special Weapon - Melta-Gun
Last Chancer "Animal" = Special Weapon - Melta-Gun
Last Chancer "Animal" = Special Weapon - Melta-Gun




Steel Legion ML HWT's and Grenade Launcher Special Weapons Teams

I mentioned before that the Heavy Bolter HWT's had some custom effects such as Resin Spent Ammo Shells and barbed wire.

The "Devil's Rope" home-made barbed wire was made by twisting two strands of thin-gauge wire with pliers, with a third strand added for barbs:






The barbed wire assembly was stretched out for measurement:






Then individual sections were snipped using side-cutting pliers:




Individual sections were glued in place on the HWT bases:




The barbed wire sections were then painted with Basecoat Black before being finished off with a Drybrush of Chainmail:

At this point, I realized i had a mish-mash of Heavy Weapons Teams. While some armies have a myriad of weapons at their disposal, including a plethora of Heavy Weapons,
the Steel Legion line by Citadel Miniatures does not include a lot of sculpts for alternate weapons such as Flamers and their Heavy Weapons options were limited to Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher, and Lascannon.

Also, due to the fact the Steel Legion are metal miniatures makes them heavier (as mentioned by IGtR=) but also more rare and therefore much more sought after and expensive.
However i did manage to snag some recoveries on eBay, such as these two Lascannon HWT's, which would be assigned to the two PCS:






Each Infantry Squad would have it's own Heavy Bolter HWT. All of the Missile Launcher HWT would be re-organised into 3-HWT squads for long-range support instead of being mixed into Infantry Squads.

The Lascannon's range and expense makes it appropriate for the Platoon Command Squads, which can park behind the Infantry Squads and issue Orders.

Here is a photo of the re-organised army with updated PCS and CCS, as new "recruits" were added:




CCS #1:

Sergeant Lloyd = Commissar (Bolt Pistol)
Underhive Scum with Plasma Pistol = Company Commander
Tech Ganger 2 = Special Weapon - Plasma Gun
Bounty Hunter 2 = Medic
Tpr.Lee = HB HWT Ammo Carrier
Orlock Heavy = Heavy Bolter HWT
Comm. Officer Schmidt = Master Of Ordnance



PCS #1:

Commissar (Bolt Pistol)
Commander with Ork Head (Bolt Pistol)
Special Weapon (Plasma Gun X 2)
Steel Legion HWT (Lascannon)




CCS #2:

Steel Legion Commissar (Bolt Pistol)
Chainsaw Warrior = Commander (Bolt Pistol)
Beret Storm Trooper = Special Weapon - Plasma Gun X 2
Beret Storm Trooper = HWT Ammo
Chainsaw Warrior = HWT (Autocannon)



PCS #2:

Commissar (Bolt Pistol)
Commander with Ork Head (Bolt Pistol)
Special Weapon (Plasma Gun X 2)
Steel Legion HWT (Lascannon)

Four ( 4 X ) Infantry and two ( 2 X ) Special Weapons Squads

Each Infantry Squad is composed of:

Sergeant armed with Bolt Gun
Special Weapon with Plasma Gun
6 X Lasgun
Heavy Bolter HWT




Overview of the Hive Ganger Steel Legion (with more new recruits!)





Updated army photo, Lascannon HWT's are restored and two Rapier Laser Destroyers have been added!!

Re: HWT: Its actually pretty easy to convert all missing HWT from the existing ones. The missile launcher team just needs an armswap, a mortar and a spyglass to make a very decent mortar team (swap missile launcher arm for a pointing arm, fill the hand near the face with something - rangefinder, spyglass, anything works, put everything on a base).
The lascannon team can easily be repurposed as an autocannon team, just swap the lascannon for a plastic autocannon. Neither the loader nor the gunner have any details that are LC specific. You can even make the gun swappable.

 Tyr13 wrote:
Re: HWT: Its actually pretty easy to convert all missing HWT from the existing ones. The missile launcher team just needs an armswap, a mortar and a spyglass to make a very decent mortar team (swap missile launcher arm for a pointing arm, fill the hand near the face with something - rangefinder, spyglass, anything works, put everything on a base).
The lascannon team can easily be repurposed as an autocannon team, just swap the lascannon for a plastic autocannon. Neither the loader nor the gunner have any details that are LC specific. You can even make the gun swappable.

Yes sir! I have seen some excellent Heavy Weapons conversions online; in fact, I drilled out the Heavy Bolter barrels so I could convert them to Autocannons

However, I do appreciate Missile Launchers for the fact that they are dual-purpose; Krak for anti-armour and Frag for anti-personnel.

Thus I started painting the Missile Launchers HWT bases; I already had 60mm MDF bases so the next step was to adhere the crew.

I purchased 25 mm round Adhesive Magnetic Bases from Germany, here is their website: https://magnetic-tabletop.com/en/

You may have noticed small skulls adorning the bases on my Hive Ganger Steel Legion bases; I ordered from two different companies.


First is a set from Wargames Exclusive, which is in the Ukraine. Here is their website: https://wargameexclusive.com

Here is a link to the product: https://wargameexclusive.com/shop/battle-sisters/random-pack-skulls-64/




The package arrived from Ukraine!




Very well packaged, in folded padding:




Inside, i could see a small baggie with the resin bits:




Finally, a small baggie of bits!




Preparation for spray priming; punched holes into corrugated cardboard with a push pin:




Used a small file to remove flash and imperfections before placing each skull into place:




After spray-priming with Krylon Flat Black:




Layer: Bleached Bone
Wash: Devlan Mud
Drybrush: Skull White

Blood and Skulls Industry is just so fantastic, I borrowed the Page info from 1d4chan.org :

One of the only 3rd-Party bitz manufacturers that doesn't have it's own website, Blood and Skulls Industry is rather an Ebay store ran by Machinator248, and is basically the one stop shop for all treadhead converters. Guns, turrets, sponsons, tracks, armor, hatches, wheels, kits for legit LED searchlights

Here is their eBay store: http://stores.ebay.ca/Blood-and-Skulls-Industry

I purchased "Mounting Skulls" in two different patterns; with jaw bone, and without jawbone.

First style:





Second style:






Here they are, delivered in the mail:

Deciding on Offense instead of Defense, I re-armed the "Medic" with a newer metal Plasma Gun and then weapon-matched the other two Hive Gangers with two plastic Space Marine Plasma Guns:




Before painting plasma coils; first without flash, then with flash:






After painting plasma coils; first without flash, then with flash:

Additional Recruits have been completed and the Orlock Heavy Bolter HWT base finished off;
at this point I was considering modelling some Objective Markers and acquired the Tardis from Models and Minis:

https://www.modelsandminis.com/28mm_Blue_Police_Phone_Box/p2965327_13874684.aspx




I started work on an Ogryn Bodyguard, in the next photo the Ogyrn is with some older metal Commissar miniatures: ( sorry about the glare )

Platoon Command Squad #1




Platoon Command Squad #2

I always love seeing steel legion armies and yours is no different in that regards. Awesome work on the army.

Some great basing work as well, that is one of the key things I'm trying to improve on the overall look for my army. I'm taking notes.

Keep pumping them out.

Good work here! Lots of steel legion! Love the oldhammer models, they look surprisingly at home in your army even with the old 2nd ed and RT sculpts. Decent paint job. Gritty and ashwastey. Chimeras coming? Steel legion after all.

 howie wrote:
I always love seeing steel legion armies and yours is no different in that regards. Awesome work on the army.

Some great basing work as well, that is one of the key things I'm trying to improve on the overall look for my army. I'm taking notes.

Keep pumping them out.

Thank you so much for the kind words, for checking out this Blog, and last but not least the words of encouragement!

Whereabouts in the UK are you by the way? It has been a great many years since i visited but I made it all the way up North to Hadrian's Wall and saw Edinburgh Castle, and came back with some Beano books...



I searched for actual photographs of the "Great War" in colour, such as this from the Imperial War Museum: https://seanmunger.com/2016/07/19/historic-photo-soldier-on-the-western-front-1918-colorized/

 genom.cor wrote:
Good work here! Lots of steel legion! Love the oldhammer models, they look surprisingly at home in your army even with the old 2nd ed and RT sculpts. Decent paint job. Gritty and ashwastey. Chimeras coming? Steel legion after all.

Thank you for the kind words, your keen eye, and words of inspiration! Speaking of mixing it up, there is an older Primaris Psyker I am using "counts as" Astropath:





Company Command Squad #1, which is composed of Hive Gangers and old-school RT Imperial Army;

Pit Slave = Commissar with Bolt Pistol
Underhive Scum = Company Commander
Bounty Hunter 2 = Plasma Gun
Tech Ganger 2 = Plasma Gun
Tech Ganger 7 = Plasma Gun
"Medic Pointer" = Medic
"Comm, Officer Schmidt" = Master Of Ordnance
Primaris Psyker = Astropath





Company Command Squad #2, which is composed of "Beret" Storm Troopers and an Orlock Heavy;

Steel Legion Officer = Commissar with Bolt Pistol
"Sergeant Lloyd" = Company Commander
Storm Trooper X 2 = Plasma Gun X 2
Orlock Heavy = Heavy Bolter
Storm Trooper = HB Ammo
"Trooper Lee" = Master Of Ordnance
Cadian Commander = Officer Of The Fleet

I finally got an Order from Models and Minis; it was paid for in January 2018 and I did not receive it until now, May 2018, five months later.

Here is a link to the Models and Minis website: https://www.modelsandminis.com



The design and craftsmanship of the resin products is of excellent quality and unique creativity; however, the owner needs to improve Order Fulfillment standards...

Here is a link to the product on Models and Minis website: https://www.modelsandminis.com/Heavy_Weapon_Team_Resin_Movement_Tray/p2965327_18038458.aspx

Here is a photo courtesy of Models and Minis website:




Here is a photo courtesy of Models and Minis Twitter feed:





I ordered five ( 5 ) of these Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays, one for each Steel Legion Infantry Squad and the fifth for a Company Command Squad.

As soon as they came in I cleaned up the edges and washed the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays with cool soapy water and an old toothbrush:





It appears that I received one ( 1 ) Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Tray cast in one colour of Resin which i mistook for being painted as a Display Model, while the other four ( 4 ) cast in a more solid grey resin:





Here are close-up photos of the two different castings. With and Without Flash:

Those look pretty cool... shame about the 5 month wait. Glad you got them in the end though.

 Tyr13 wrote:
Those look pretty cool... shame about the 5 month wait. Glad you got them in the end though.

Gutentag! Thank you for checking in again Tyr13, and while it is a shame about the wait I was thrilled about getting the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays so I could paint up and showcase them!

Over the weekend I happened to pass by a local "Science store" which carried a selection of Testors model paints; not having any Flat Black spray paint, I picked up a small can of Testors:

I consider Testors products to be "Entry Level" but still produce excellent results. Here is the link to the Testors website: https://www.testors.com






The instructions on the Testors Spray Paint recommended adding additional coats within 3 hours or after 48 hours, which I thought was an unusually long dry / cure time?

Alas, I was so eager to paint up one of the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays that I allowed overnight dry time, only about 20 hours dry / cure time honestly...

As a result, the Testors Flat Black Spray Paint started to rub off when I tried to hold the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Tray by the center while painting.

Soil:

Base Coat: Scorched Brown
Layer: Mournfang Brown
Highlight: Vermin Brown

Stones:

Base Coat: Mechanicus Standard Grey
Layer: Bleached Bone
Highlight: Skull White

Bones:

Base Coat: Bleached Bone
Wash: Reikland Fleshshade
Highlight: Skull White



Left side:





Right side:





Front view:





Last but not least, I carefully applied a coat of Army Painter Quickshade in Dark Tone. Here is a link to the Army Painter Quickshade products: https://shop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=1

It is an oil-based product that "stains" as well as "seals" with a gloss finish and I cleaned up the brush with Tamiya Paint Thinner; as such it was only painted on soil areas and the photo was taken immediately after application:

Wow, as someone who is reviving his Steel Legion as well I find allot of inspiration here and excellent ideas. Thank you, definitely gonna follow this.

5 months for a delivery is harsh. My worst was when I got like 60 legionaries sent to Germany from the USA. But those trays seem to be well worth it.

 OtherKharon wrote:
Wow, as someone who is reviving his Steel Legion as well I find allot of inspiration here and excellent ideas. Thank you, definitely gonna follow this.

5 months for a delivery is harsh. My worst was when I got like 60 legionaries sent to Germany from the USA. But those trays seem to be well worth it.

Thank you so much for the kind words OtherKharon, and for checking out this Steel Legion Blog sir!




It was actually a headache dealing with the Vendor; I tried to follow-up on the order a month later by asking if there was any Tracking Information for shipment, to which the reply was the Vendor / Designer was dealing with poor health.

The following month, March 2018, I inquired again and this time instead of health issues it was depression. Finally in April i asked one last time when I could paint up and showcase these wonderful products; no response.




I was forced to open a PayPal Dispute to reclaim my Payment, at which time the Vendor complained saying it would make him look bad !!! In fact, he even asked me to close the Claim before shipping out my Order !!!!!




I replied professionally saying my client would like to have their Army completed, and using PayPal Dispute Resolution I received my order after a lengthy wait!

Although every resin product I have ordered from Models and Minis are incredibly detailed and finely crafted, their Order Fulfillment has room for improvement.





The next five ( 5 ) photos were taken in a small lightbox, with a white background; the last photo uses a black background and shows a lot more colour.


Complete Company Command Squad on Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Tray, White Background:





Steel Legion Commissar, Company Commander, Astropath and Objective Marker Work-In-Progress





Company Command Squad Heavy Weapons Team





Storm Trooper X 2 with Plasma Gun





Officer Of The Fleet and Master Of Ordnance





Complete Company Command Squad on Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Tray, Black Background

I much prefer metal Citadel Miniatures over plastic; they have a heft and feel plus are less prone to tipping over on the tabletop.

Alas the Steel Legion line has a limited range of Special Weapons, only having Grenade Launcher and Plasma Gun.





WIth the new Regimental Doctrines as well as performance of Plasma Guns i wasn't found wanting for Meltaguns, but I did want some Flamers;

I have read how they can deter Close Combat or prevent Deep Striking units, a concern for my Heavy Weapons Teams.





I started by acquiring some plastic Cadian Flamer bits; I already had one used set so I purchased two more from eBay:





These would be spray primed Flat Black with Testors, they are at the bottom of the pizza box;

I also gave the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays a second spray paint coat of Testors Flat Black as well as spray priming some Hunter Killer Missiles:







Have the proper tools available; in this case, the Atlas Super Saw which is a hobby or razor saw and small side-cutting piers.
You may have noticed the bottom Grenade Launcher has already had a Grenade removed from the waist belt:





Make a cut on the underneath of the Grenade





Make a cut above the top of the Grenade





Grenades are removed, Magnets glued into a recess in the back of the Flamer tanks with Gorilla Super Glue:





Using the saw scratched off some paint as well as removing metal; these bare metal areas were Basecoating with Undercoat Black:





Areas that were painted black were then colour-matched again to the Steel Legion uniform:





Flamer tanks were Basecoat painted with Mechrite Red:





Flamer tanks were Layer painted with Mephiston Red, green areas were Basecoat painted with Waaagh! Flesh:





Flamer tank caps painted Chainmail, Flamer tank Skull details Basecoated with Bleached Bone:





Flamer tanks highlighted with a mix of Mephiston Red and Troll Slayer Orange:





Grenades painted Bad Moon Yellow and Troll Slayer Orange, green areas painted with a Wash of Caliban Green:





Flamer tank skull details Highlighted with Bleached Bone, then a wash of Nuln Oil:





There are colour codes for the Grenade Launcher ammunition; Yellow is Incendiary, and Orange is Thermite:

You may have noticed an Imperial Guard Ogryn in the photos with the Flamer conversions.

In previous editions of Imperial Guard Codex there was a mention of an Ogryn Bodyguard, which was realized in the form of Nork Deddog.

Originally a metal miniature, he is now available as a plastic upgrade option as Games Workshop produces a plastic multi-part plastic kit that makes 3 Bullgryn or Ogryn miniatures, one of which can be made into Nork Deddog.



Fred Reed's custom Nork Deddog Citadel lead miniature on 40mm Square Base





Here is the original metal Nork Deddog, courtesy of The Stuff Of Legends:, notice the square 40mm Base





Citadel Nork Deddog pewter miniature on 40mm Round Base





New Citadel Nork Deddog plastic miniature on 40mm Round Base





As I mentioned before that I preferred metal Citadel Miniatures, I came across a Mark 2 metal Imperial Guard Ogryn circa 1995 a while ago and decided to make him my Ogryn Bodyguard:

HEAD 3
TORSO 2
GUN 1
LEGS 2





Pinned and Glued together, spray primed with Citadel Skull White spray paint:





I used the same Paint Scheme as for the Steel Legion; the next two photos are Work-In-Progress but the first is Without Flash, second photo is With Flash:







Here is the latest photo; I've changed the pants from Green to Tan, and started adding Detail to the Base:

After applying a second coat of Testors Flat Black spray paint and allowing to dry, I started painting the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays.

Because of a second application of Testors spray paint and several days dry time as per product directions, the black did not come off easily as the first time!

I used the same Paint Scheme as the first Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Tray:

Soil:

Base Coat: Scorched Brown
Layer: Mournfang Brown
Highlight: Vermin Brown



Stones:

Base Coat: Mechanicus Standard Grey
Layer: Bleached Bone
Highlight: Skull White



Bones:

Base Coat: Bleached Bone
Wash: Reikland Fleshshade
Highlight: Skull White



Spent Ammo Casings:

Base Coat: Vallejo Gold
Wash: Reikland Fleshshade
Highlight: Vallejo Gold



4 X Painted Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays:

Four ( 4 ) painted Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays for Steel Legion Infantry Squads, before Army Painter Quickshade

So far, the Brown, Stones and Bones have been painted; Spent Ammo Casings molded onto the base have yet to be picked out & painted gold





5 X Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays, before Army Painter Quickshade:

Five ( 5 ) painted Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays, only one at the back has been fully painted with Army Painter Quickshade

You can see the glints of gold from the Spent Ammo Casings molded onto the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Tray itself!!!





5 X Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays, after Army Painter Quickshade:

All of the Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays have been painted with Army Painter Quickshade - Dark Tone

I'm really impressed how the gloss finish appears to be a muddy, slick battlefield resulting in a quagmire of mud and death...





5 X Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays, Fully Painted:

Five ( 5 ) Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays with CCS and 4 X Steel Legion Infantry Squads





5 X Heavy Weapon Team Resin Movement Trays, Fully Painted:

Company Command Squad and 4 X Steel Legion Infantry Squads





Steel Legion Infantry, First Platoon:

First Platoon: Infantry Squads 1 and 2





Steel Legion Infantry, Second Platoon:

Second Platoon: Infantry Squads 1 and 2

Whoa, those whole squad IG bases are great. Nice stuff, steel legion are hardcore.

Wow! Where on earth did you dig up all those WD pages?

 ph34r wrote:
Whoa, those whole squad IG bases are great. Nice stuff, steel legion are hardcore.

Thanks for taking the opportunity the check out my work, it truly is a labour of love... Whereabouts in the US are you ? I have an older brother on the East Coast by Boston, in Braintree Massachusetts.

My grandpa (dad's side) passed away peacefully in a Veteran's Hospital in Palo Alto, CA which i was a teenager so we went to SoCal ... I've even been to Arlington and the Smithsonian Museums in D.C.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, yes the steel legion truly are hardcore sir!

 Iron Wings wrote:
Wow! Where on earth did you dig up all those WD pages?

There is a wonderful website called " Stuff Of Legends " which has an extensive Archive of miniatures.

Here is a link to their website: http://www.solegends.com/index.htm

I myself owned the Citadel 1991 Red & Blue Catalogues, which are now in the possession of Mike who is the owner and proprietor of Hammertime Hobbies in North Vancouver, BC Canada.

I also still own many Citadel Catalogues since I worked for Games Workshop as a red shirt retail staff member, and made off with some rare catalogues as GW Gastown, Park Royal, and Metrotown stores closed.

Because I bought the majority of my army used on eBay, some had misplaced parts; I was missing the Ammo Backpack for the Missile Launcher Crewmen in two Heavy Weapon Squads.

I bought some plastic Cadian bits to complete the Missile Launcher HWT Crewman, namely the Backpack with Entrenching Tool from the Cadian Heavy Weapon Squad:




Here is the Cadian Heavy Weapon Team plastic sprue, courtesy of Games Workshop; I also used the Binoculars on a custom-build later:





Here are the two "repaired" Steel Legion Missile Launcher HWT Crewmen:





The Grenade on the plastic Cadian Backpack has been painted a Basecoat of Mechrite Red and a Layer of Mephiston Red, so as to resemble the U.S. AN-M14 Thermite Hand Grenade:

I really hope you got all the SL you need, cause they just went out... No more SL models, at least until MtO, or a plastic rerelease...

 Tyr13 wrote:
I really hope you got all the SL you need, cause they just went out... No more SL models, at least until MtO, or a plastic rerelease...

Hello Tyr13 and good to see you again! It's been a long time since I been to Austria, last time was Kitzbühel in 1992, although I went to Europe again in 2002 I only made it to Switzerland...

I am greatly saddened to hear that certain miniatures have been discontinued; as an ex-GW red shirt retail staff member, we saw the transition from metal to plastic and Finecast.
Most of my armies are metal, and i prefer the older Lead Rogue Trader range than the newer "lead-free white metal" which they switched to in 1997.

I do understand that the miniatures are now only "Made To Order" but i did search eBay for my used Steel Legion, and at this point I am fairly certain I am set;
my main concern now is to have enough Chimera Armoured Personnel Carriers as genom.cor asked:

 genom.cor wrote:
Good work here! Lots of steel legion! Love the oldhammer models, they look surprisingly at home in your army even with the old 2nd ed and RT sculpts. Decent paint job. Gritty and ashwastey. Chimeras coming? Steel legion after all.

I only have a " Motor Pool " of six ( 6 ) Chimera APC so far, as I am doing Recovery Work on them (I also have a couple Chapterhouse Studios Wheeled Chimera Kits to build):

Well, 6 chimeras should be plenty. I run my SL with just 4 (though I do have a taurox and a banehammer as additional transports, allowing an all-mech playstyle).

I hope I can grab some more SL though... currently just at 70 models, plus some HWS...

Great progress Private Benjamin.

Love the repairing of eBay models. Decent sized force you have painted up.

Those movement trays look great, too bad they took so long to arrive.

If you are looking for spare Guard bits just send me a PM. I don't have as much as I used to, but still have flamers, heavy weapon backpacks and other extras.

Cheers,

CB

 Tyr13 wrote:
Well, 6 chimeras should be plenty. I run my SL with just 4 (though I do have a taurox and a banehammer as additional transports, allowing an all-mech playstyle).

I hope I can grab some more SL though... currently just at 70 models, plus some HWS...

Hello again Tyr! A Taurox eh, i have been intrigued by those " metal bawkses "; once i get those two Chapterhouse Studios Wheeled Kits together i could run those as " counts as " Taurox, hmm...

Banehammer or any other super-heavy tank is something i have not invested in yet; I've been just trying to fulfill the basic requirements to field a small Steel Legion force!


Using the Astra Militarum 7th Edition (and previous rules) I can field two Infantry Platoons, each with two Infantry Squads.

Using the new Astra Militarum 8th Edition rules, I've got four ( 4 ) Troops choices and a whack-ton of Elites; also, the Heavy Weapons Teams now count as Heavy choices...


So far, I currently have over a hundred individual Steel Legion troopers; although many of the Heavy Weapons Teams are a single 60mm Round Base with two Crewmen, I've tried to make the crew removable for keeping track of Wounds.

Here are a couple of Steel Legion Heavy Heavy Weapons Teams that I have applied Magnets so that the Ammo Loader can be removed for Wound Tracking.


1. Steel Legion Heavy Bolter Heavy Weapons Team, Complete




2. Steel Legion Heavy Bolter Heavy Weapons Team, Wounded

Steel Legion Heavy Bolter HWT, Ammo Loader removed for Wound Tracking




3. Steel Legion Heavy Bolter Heavy Weapons Team, Underneath

Underside of Ammo Loader Crewman and plastic 60mm Round Base showing application of Magnets





1. Steel Legion Lascannon Heavy Weapons Team, Complete




2. Steel Legion Lascannon Heavy Weapons Team, Wounded

Steel Legion Lascannon HWT, Crewman removed for Wound Tracking; the Crewman has a Magnetic Tabletop Adhesive 25 mm Round Base, and another is on the MDF Base:




3. Steel Legion Lascannon Heavy Weapons Team, Showing Magnets

Magnets underneath Lascannon Operator and on his Gloves, rear of Lascannon, and on the 60mm Round MDF Base:

Captain Brown wrote:
Great progress Private Benjamin.

Love the repairing of eBay models. Decent sized force you have painted up.

Those movement trays look great, too bad they took so long to arrive.

If you are looking for spare Guard bits just send me a PM. I don't have as much as I used to, but still have flamers, heavy weapon backpacks and other extras.

Cheers,

CB

So good to hear from you Captain Brown, i read how you were involved in a move; I was wondering if you were taking a break?



Thank you for the comments, the movement trays do look quite good. I had always used home-made plywood movement trays prior to Games Workshop making plastic movement trays.

Having played Warhammer Fantasy Battle, I appreciated the fact they were lightweight, had " lips " on the front and sides to prevent miniatures from slipping off, and fairly inexpensive.



With Warhamer 40,000 miniatures, I was looking for a similar way to rank up and co-ordinate units, so I researched both MDF as well as resin Movement Trays;

although MDF is cheaper and more readily available, resin movement trays offered more detail and were thinner. However, i am aware than resin can also be more delicate.

Ultimately, I would like to build a 2' x 2' " Armies On Parade " board for the Hive Ganger Steel Legion Army!



I greatly appreciate the offer of spare Guard bits sir! I had been hunting around for this & that as I finished up some miniatures, such as the Steel Legion HWT Missile Launcher crewmen with backpacks I posted earlier.

In addition to the Cadian Heavy Weapon Squad bits, I hunted down the Cadian Command Squad Vox-caster right arm so as to complete a Steel Legion Missile Launcher that was missing the Missile Launcher arm!



The next two pictures are courtesy of Games Workshop; first is the Cadian Command Squad sprue:





Here is the Cadian Vox-Caster showing the right arm:





Steel Legion Missile Launcher conversion; the Cadian plastic parts are spray-primed Testors flat black:





Steel Legion conversion after basecoat painting Cadian Vox-caster right arm, Binocular and Helmet Goggles:

Cool Stuff !

Really like the blue color scheme for the heavy weapons- very striking and a nice contrast to the otherwise drab (and very real world) uniforms and muddy terrain. The green is well done, but the blue really gets me.

 ghostmaker wrote:
Cool Stuff !

Thank you very much for the kind words sir! Whereabouts in the US are you?


Here is the latest photo of my Hive Ganger Steel Legion PDF army with a total of 120 individual miniatures:

Infantry Squad #1 ( 10 )
Infantry Squad #2 ( 10 )
Infantry Squad #3 ( 10 )
Infantry Squad #4 ( 10 )
CCS #1 ( 10 )
CCS #2 ( 10 )
PCS #1 ( 6 )
PCS #2 ( 6 )
SWT #1 GL ( 6 )
SWT #2 Flamer (6)
ML HWT #1 ( 6 )
ML HWT #2 ( 6 )
ML HWT #3 ( 6 )
HB HWT #1 ( 6 )
HB HWT #2 ( 6 )
Rapier #1 ( 3 )
Rapier #2 ( 3 )




There are two new recruits at the rear of the Army; in the Company Command Squad just beside the Tardis, I have added an Astropath and Master Of Ordnance:


The Master Of Ordnance is another Rogue Trader era Imperial Army metal miniature, "Comm. Officer Schmidt".

I had used "Comm. Officer Schmidt" in another CCS as a Master Of Ordnance, so it seemed like good continuity;

the Imperial Army trooper with the Ork head, "Trooper Jones" would be a Crewman on a Rapier Laser Destroyer heavy weapon platform as he has a set of Binoculars:





I am using a Psyker "counts as" Astropath; as a more recent metal sculpt, it is available on the Games Workshop website as "Sanctioned Psykers",

Here is a link to the Sanctioned Psykers or "Wyrdvane Psykers" on GW's website: https://www.games-workshop.com/en-CA/Imperial-Guard-Sanctioned-Psykers





Psyker spray primed with Citadel Skull White, staff Basecoat painted with Chaos Black; Master Of Ordnance is bare at the moment:





After basecoat painting; the weird looking front to the Psyker is due to mis-cast miniature:

Huh. If its miscast, why didnt you exchange it? Or fix it with GS or something at least?

Love your color choices and the classic style. That Ogryn is a work of art.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Really like the blue color scheme for the heavy weapons- very striking and a nice contrast to the otherwise drab (and very real world) uniforms and muddy terrain. The green is well done, but the blue really gets me.

Hello again Meer_Cat and thank you for the C & C !!! I used to be a professional house painter, and it never occurred to me that certain colours "pop" or appear more vibrant when placed alongside others.



I knew that opposing colours on the "Color Wheel" could be used to make certain contrasts, such as how Green is across from Red, but I did not know it was called "Complimentary" colors.

I did know that painting a lot of red & green may look too "Christmas-y" and that other complimentary color pairings such as Blue / Orange or Yellow / Purple can be challenging also.



Ultimately when I was completing the Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads, I did a Google search for "Color Wheel" and was surprised to find out I had painted using "Complementary":




As i painted the Steel Legion with the older Citadel Foundation paint range Iyandan Darksun, i searched for a compatible alternative and according to the Paint Range Compatibility Chart, Averland Sunset was recommended.

Personally i find Averland Sunset to have too much red tones in it, making it too "orangey" instead of the paler buff mustard-yellow I prefer for the Ash Wastes so I highlighted Averland Sunset with Bleached Bone.



I had used Blue in the Cockpits of my Flyers and I noticed the contrast looked very sharp while not distracting from Cockpit Details such as Instrumentation and the Pilots;

even painting personnel and Equipment blue such as Officer Of The Fleet, Master Of Ordnance, Vox-caster and Binoculars make them stand out!



Green has been something i've tried to perfect over years of painting Imperial Guard, from Infantry to Armoured Vehicles (Walkers as well as Tanks) to Flyers!

I also knew the Steel Legion would have insignia of a Red lightning bolt on a White background, so I didn't want any other color to confuse the eye of the viewer.



These two colors produce the maximum contrast and give a very dynamic and vibrant look to your painting:




As a result of good color theory, washes & glazes, harsh edges or transitions were masked or reduced. Also the washes gave a unified look with a grimy, drab battlefield look that you mentioned!

In fact, to answer a question recently posed:

 Tyr13 wrote:
Huh. If its miscast, why didnt you exchange it? Or fix it with GS or something at least?

Hello again Tyr! Unfortunately I pulled the Psyker out of storage and can't remember how and when I acquired the miniature...

Alas my local hobby store is sold out of Green Stuff, although I have used Squadron Modelling Putty in the green tube i am curious to try out Citadel Liquid Green Stuff.

All i have right now is some 10-year old Milliput, but i have concluded that i'm pretty lazy and would rather show off a miscast that doesn't look that bad, like a bullet-ridden coat...






Here is the Sanctioned Psyker, Master Of Ordnance, and Steel Legion Conversion after washes and adding Base Detail:

 kestral wrote:
Love your color choices and the classic style. That Ogryn is a work of art.

Thank you very much kestral for checking out the Color Theory and the kind words sir! I hoped that a palette of interesting color choices helped differentiate my army from the typical Steel Legion out there!

The Ogryn could have been better had I thinned down my paints even more; I did enjoy painting skin tones more than I thought!

Next to finish is the 40mm Round Base for the Ogryn and a 60mm Round Base for a Rapier Laser Destroyer.

With the addition of new recruits, it was time to re-assign members of the Company Command Squads.

Citadel Miniatures produced a Cadian Commander, which I have as "counts as" Officer Of The Fleet:




Company Command Squad on Heavy Weapon Team Movement Tray

Black background in Lightbox:




Officer Of The Fleet and Objective Marker in rear rank:




Master Of Ordnance and Astropath in rear rank:




Hive Ganger Company Command Squad

Some very cool stuff here. Colour me subbed.

 Skinflint Games wrote:
Some very cool stuff here. Colour me subbed.

Hello and greetings from another Commonwealth country, Canada! It has been a great many years since I visited the UK but I even brought back Beano books!

Thank you for the kind words and checking out this Blog! I've seen your wonderful assortment of work, very original and creative!!



I mentioned having to finish a 60mm Round Base for an Imperial Guard Rapier Laser Destroyer, two of which can be seen in the Army photo in previous posts.

There are three Rapier Laser Destroyers versions; first two variants are cast in metal, with the third in resin from Forge World.

The following black and white photos are from Citadel catalogs courtesy Stuff Of Legends:


Rapier Mark I




Rapier Mark I and II




Rapier Mark I Assembly Instructions




Rapier Laser Destroyer ( Mark i ) in Retail packaging




Three ( 3 ) production models of the Rapier Laser Destroyer




Forge World Update for 6th Edition




Rapier Laser Destroyer Rules for 8th Edition

Very cohesive looking and good use of color theory to get that pop! Nice to see some Chimeras are enroute as well, im looking forward to seeing how you decide to dress those up. Have you pointed out your army list yet? Id be curious to see what you've got so far. Planning on picking up Old man Yarrik or a Baneblade? Keep up the good work Private!

Love seeing the rapiers going into action- there's no school like the old school!

And painting the Cadian Commander up with the right colors absolutely makes him an Officer of the Fleet- who carries a cutlass into battle other than those guys?!

 genom.cor wrote:
Very cohesive looking and good use of color theory to get that pop! Nice to see some Chimeras are enroute as well, im looking forward to seeing how you decide to dress those up. Have you pointed out your army list yet? Id be curious to see what you've got so far. Planning on picking up Old man Yarrik or a Baneblade? Keep up the good work Private!

Hello again genom.cor and thank you for coming back! I haven't sat down to figure out a Points Value yet, although I did start a Thread for the "fluff" or Background: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/758405.page

I was actually thinking of a "Young man Yarrik" using an older Commissar model:




As for Tanks, I have an Armoured Company with six ( 6 ) Leman Russ tanks:




And a custom Thunderer Siege Tank / Destroyer Tank Hunter at my disposal:

Loving the use of old-school minis, good work!

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Love seeing the rapiers going into action- there's no school like the old school!

And painting the Cadian Commander up with the right colors absolutely makes him an Officer of the Fleet- who carries a cutlass into battle other than those guys?!

Hello there Meer_Cat, great to see you again and thank you for the kind comments! You can tell i really love the metal miniatures eh?

Here are Imperial Army miniatures, courtesy Stuff Of Legends:








In Codex: Armageddon ( which was published in 2000 ) there is a story and picture involving " Admiral Parol ";

When the Citadel metal Cadian Commander was released, i thought it was a dead ringer for Admiral Parol; complete with cutlass, monocle, and swept hawkish hair!

 monkeytroll wrote:
Loving the use of old-school minis, good work!

Hello monkeytroll and thank you very much for checking out this Blog! WHereabouts in the UK are you?

I appreciate the opportunity to not only collect and paint the old-school minis, but also to field them in a way that unites new and old, and bring back memories for us Oldhammers!



1. Mark 1 and 2 Rapier Laser Destroyers

My two Rapier Laser Destroyers, Mark 1 and 2, are complete with Crewmen; one of the Crewmen is " Tpr. Jones with Ork Head "
However I can't figure out who the other Crewman is, on the far left with a yellow helmet stripe. He is holding a Las Pistol and Binocular.




2. Rapier Laser Destroyer on MDF 60mm Round base




3. Placing Ork Bike pieces on MDF base, but not glued




4. 25mm Round Adhesive Magnet and started Basing




5. Base and Bike hand painted Black with Crafter's Acrylic Paint





6. Crew stripes painted white; originally Red Team, which I thought would conflict with the blood on the Ork head




7. Bike painted with Salt, then after drying Dry-brush Mithril Silver




8. Basecoat paint with Scorched Earth then Layer with Mournfang Brown




9. Helmet and shoulder stripe complete; repainted Bad Moon Yellow




Rapier Laser Destroyer, Yellow Team.




Now to finish the 60mm Round Base for the second Rapier!

Other gunner is just known as gunner 2....he was the spotter on the original rapier kit.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Other gunner is just known as gunner 2....he was the spotter on the original rapier kit.

Thank you so much monkeytroll for the help, and for dropping in again!



I had so much fun creating my own 60mm Round Detailed Base for the Rapier Laser Destroyer that I decided to try making a Trench themed one;

I had seen cast Resin 60mm Round Detailed Bases with Trench themes, so I did a Google search for making my own. Here are some examples of Resin Bases:

Resin Trench Base 1 - From eBay




Resin Trench Base 2 - From eBay




I really liked the first Trench Base as it is very realistic and simple, while the second one had enough detail to count as Cover, especially as this Base would be for a Rapier and not a HWT.


1: Preparing for 60mm Round Base

Have the proper tools ready for your project, as Piss Poor Planning Prevents Proper Performance!




2. Modelling Boards and Applying White Glue

Individual boards were hand-cut using the Atlas Super Saw, then Weathered with the metal brush and craft knife.




3. Assembling Duckboards, Rear view

The edges of the boards picked up some dirt from the metal brush during Weathering, resulting in blackening of the ends:




3. Assembling Duckboards, Front view

Each board was carefully positioned and applied pressure before laying down the next one.




4. Adding Battlefield Details

Resin skull, plastic grenades, and a Lasgun power pack were added for battlefield detail.




5. Adding Basing Materiel, Front and Rear view

A custom mix of sand, black coal, and red brick was applied over the remaining white glue.






6. Brush painted Crafter's Acrylic Black

Crafter's Acrylic Black paint was used to brush-on prime the completed base.




7. After two coats of Crafter's Acrylic Black paint

The first coat of brush paint-on black paint as primer was thnned down with water then allowed to dry; then a second coat of black paint was applied.




8. Started Basecoat and Layer Painting

Ground was Basecoat painted Scorched Earth, Layer painted Mournfang Brown, Highlighted Vermin Brown.






9. Duckboards and Details Painted

Duckboards were Basecoat painted Vermin Brown, Layer painted Averland Sunset, Highlighted Calthan Brown.




10. Layer and Highlights added to Details

Skull painted Bleached Bone, Ammo Casings painted Gold, Lasgun ammo pack painted Regal Blue, Rocks painted Mechanicus Standard Grey.




11. Washes then Highlights added

After two washes; first Agrax Earthshade, then a touch of Nuln Oil on metallic bits such as Ammo Casings, Grenades, and Nail Heads on the Duckboards.
Blue was Highlighted with Macragge Blue. The skull was Highlighted with Skull White. The Lasgun power pack light got a Layer of Mephiston Red with a Highlight of Troll Slayer Orange.

Beautifully done- a lot of steps, but the final look is definitely worth it.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Beautifully done- a lot of steps, but the final look is definitely worth it.

Hello Meer_Cat and thank you for the compliment! Home-made scratch-built beats store-bought any day, as you said definitely worth it!


Completed 60mm Round Scenic Bases for Rapier Laser Destroyer teams:




Rapier Laser Destroyer teams mounted on [/b]60mm Round Scenic Bases:[/b]







I decided to weather and apply battle damage to the Ork Wartrakk bit on the base of a Steel Legion Missile Launcher Heavy Weapon Squad., and touch up the shoulder too.

1. Drill bullet-holes into the Ork part with a pin vise




2. Using a brush, paint the bullet holes Black




3. Highlight bullet holes with Mithril Silver




4. Apply a Wash of Agrax Earthshade

Nice job on the bases

1. Starting the Steel Legion army



2. Units and squads in formation



3. Warhammer Fantasy Battle plastic Movement Trays



4. Heavy Weapons Teams finished, Tardis added



5. Additional recruits including Ogryn Bodyguard



6. Additional recruits, new Resin Movement Trays



7. Two Rapier Laser Destroyer bases finished



8. Heavy Bolter HWT's fitted with Gun Shields

Very impressive force Private Benjamin.

Exalted.

Cheers,

CB

Captain Brown wrote:
Very impressive force Private Benjamin.

Exalted.

Cheers,

CB

Thank you so very much Captain Brown! I appreciate the inspiring words, especially from a dedicated and accomplished painter / hobbyist as yourself!!



Mail call today was a box of bits from Mad Robot Miniatures! Here is their website: https://madrobotminiatures.com




HA-0701 Imperial Officer Arms




Originally I wanted to convert a bunch of Citadel metal Commissars, from their older range. I have two with full gas masks, Commissar 4:




Here are the two Commissars, one has been converted with the Imperial Officer Arms from Mad Robot Miniatures:




Front View:



Rear View:

 monkeytroll wrote:
Nice job on the bases

Hello again monkeytroll and thank you for the comment and for coming back to check out the finished 60mm Round Scenic Bases!



I continued my conversion of old-school metal Commissars;




Originally when these were cast, some were produced with both arms, some with one arm, and some with no arms.

Citadel Miniatures produced a Human Clothed Arms Sprue:




However these have a pouch on the rounded shoulder and are clearly meant as a BDU, or a Battle Dress Uniform for a Guardsman.

I started looking for alternate arms for the Commissars, hopefully with details such as epaulettes. I mentioned my recent order from Mad Robot Miniatures;

in addition to their Imperial Officer Arms, I purchased their HA-0201 Greatcoat Officer Arms:






Here are my 2nd Edition metal Commissars being converted, Work-In-Progress:

Likening those commissars, the mad robot arms work really well.

Alaricuk wrote:
Likening those commissars, the mad robot arms work really well.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my Hive Ganger Steel Legion PDF blog! It's been a long time since I visited the UK, whereabouts are you?



I had a blast with many of the Mad Robot Miniatures bits, and the latest conversion involved a Steel Legion sergeant which was acquired from eBay, albeit missing the right arm.

To replace the arm, I first used a plastic Cadian Tank Commander with Laspistol arm, which was then converted to a Bolter ( fourth to the rear, Bolter pointing upright )





However, it was not a perfect match as the right hand did not have a glove; I had to paint on a "fake" glove much like the fake shoe Jackie Chan wore when he broke his foot filming "Rumble in the Bronx".

Instead i found a much better and more historical option holding a Potato Masher Grenade, courtesy of Mad Robot Miniatures:

HA-0902 Shock Troop Grenadier Arms





Inspiration for my Steel Legion army; historical art depicting World War I





Steel Legion Sergeant conversion, Front view





Steel Legion Sergeant conversion, Rear view





Steel Legion Sergeant with Potato Masher Grenade and Infantry Squad

Nicely done- it's great to see someone with a vision (we all _start_ with one) and stick to it to the point that sheer size of the force makes it something special to see on the table. A maxim for the old Napoleonics players that got me into figure painting (was pretty much just a vehicles guy before that) used to say was "in mass lies perfection". Meaning that large formations of decently (game play level) painted miniatures actually looked to be even higher quality than that because the eye couldn't take in all the detail.

What you've achieved here is both: individual levels of high quality detailed painting and the perfection that is a mass force assembled.

Well done.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Nicely done- it's great to see someone with a vision (we all _start_ with one) and stick to it to the point that sheer size of the force makes it something special to see on the table. A maxim for the old Napoleonics players that got me into figure painting (was pretty much just a vehicles guy before that) used to say was "in mass lies perfection". Meaning that large formations of decently (game play level) painted miniatures actually looked to be even higher quality than that because the eye couldn't take in all the detail.

What you've achieved here is both: individual levels of high quality detailed painting and the perfection that is a mass force assembled.

Well done.

Thank you so very much Meer_Cat for continuing to check out this Blog, your observation of my imagination is spot-on;

it's like the saying " do you see the forest or the trees? ". It's important, as you mentioned, to pay attention to both the forest and the trees.

It is painstaking work but then again so is raising, equipping, and maintaining an army in real-life, as you and I have both experienced first-hand.



The most palpitating bit that I was drooling in eager anticipation of from Mad Robot Miniatures:


HP-19 Grenades - Potato Masher

Potato masher grenades, 5 singles and 5 pairs





Four ( 4 ) sets of HP-19:

I purchased four ( 4 ) sets of HP-19, they were delivered in a ziplock baggie





Cleaned up with a hobby knife and scrubbed with soap and water:





Spray primed with Testors flat black and Basecoat painted:





Painted with a Wash of Agrax Earthshade:





Layer painted and Highlights:





Steel Legion Infantry Squad with Mad Robot Miniatures Bits:

Steel Legion sergeant with Shocktroop Grenadier Arm, Steel Legion infantry with Potato Masher Grenades

Nice work Private Benjamin.

Cheers,

CB

Great idea with the potato mashers! That sarge is tops! The grim dark realist in me still has issues with the bright blue guns but the artist in me like the color contrast and tbh it gives them a futuristic look. They kind of look like paintball guns. It's a really interesting choice though and definately makes the army stand out.

Captain Brown wrote:
Nice work Private Benjamin.

Cheers,

CB

Thank you so very much Captain Brown, I'm pleased my vision has come back full-circle.

The next part of making my Steel Legion army more appropriate to the time era actually ties in with the next comment, from genom.cor

I was going to ask you for some spare plastic Cadian bits but in the end I was making an order from an eBay purveyor of plastic bits...

I am looking for Chimera armoured carrier hull bits, and I ended up ordering these Cadian Heavy Weapons Teams Gun Shields:




What other image conjures up mental images of stagnant mud, quagmires of blood and steel fragments in a war-torn battlefield than the Maxim Maschinengewehr 1910




Artist's rendition of Maxim MG 08

I love those shields. I used them on the heavy stubbers of Chimeras for my Steel Legion. Can't wait to see what you do with them

 genom.cor wrote:
Great idea with the potato mashers! That sarge is tops! The grim dark realist in me still has issues with the bright blue guns but the artist in me like the color contrast and tbh it gives them a futuristic look. They kind of look like paintball guns. It's a really interesting choice though and definately makes the army stand out.

Thank you for checking in again genom.com, and thank you for noticing the Colour Scheme!

I play paintball, used to work at a local field as a referee and coach, and captain a five-man tournament team that is currently defending pump champions;

I never thought of the weapons as looking like paintball markers but I do agree painting them other than black or metallic colours makes them pop out more!

As I mentioned in my response to Captain Brown I went and took the next step towards a WW1-theme appearance while keeping the Colour Scheme ...

 genom.cor wrote:
I love those shields. I used them on the heavy stubbers of Chimeras for my Steel Legion. Can't wait to see what you do with them

That is a fantastic idea; they reminded me of M113 APC gun shields, and as such I was thinking they were the perfect size for Heavy Stubber gunners and then ...



Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads, Top View

Top View showing Heavy Bolter Heavy Weapons Teams with Gun Shields





Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads, Front View Before Painting Gun Shields





Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads, Front View After Painting Gun Shields

Details were painted in Green and Bone.

Green
Basecoat: Dark Angels Green
Wash Nuln Oil
Layer: Warpstone Glow
Highlight: Moot Green

Bone
Basecoat: Bleached Bone
Wash: Reikland Fleshwash
Layer: Bleached Bone
Highlight: Skull White

Yeah they look good on those heavy bolters! Thats what I thought you might do with them.

Looking really good

 genom.cor wrote:
Yeah they look good on those heavy bolters! Thats what I thought you might do with them.

Thank you for checking in again genom.cor! I got in the final four gun shields so I could complete my Steel Legion Infantry Squads which have Heavy Bolter HWT's

 insaniak wrote:
Looking really good

Hello and greetings from a fellow Commonwealth country, Canada! Thank you so very much for the kind words, and for coming from "down under" to check out this Thread, insaniak!


I finished off my Steel Legion Special Weapon conversions with Flamers, by pinning the tips from plastic Flamers onto the end of the metal Grenade Launchers:

Man this army is really coming to life since I last checked on it. The potato mashers are a really good addition to the steel legion add a kit more utility to them. As they’re otherwise a bit sparse.

Nice conversions on the flamers, this is one of the reasons my Valhallans hit the rocks. I got bored of all the mono pose special weapons. Hope to see some more in the future.

Really nice basing, followed by a great tutorial.

Keep up the good work.

 howie wrote:
Man this army is really coming to life since I last checked on it. The potato mashers are a really good addition to the steel legion add a kit more utility to them. As they’re otherwise a bit sparse.

Nice conversions on the flamers, this is one of the reasons my Valhallans hit the rocks. I got bored of all the mono pose special weapons. Hope to see some more in the future.

Really nice basing, followed by a great tutorial.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you so very much for coming back to check out this P&M Blog, and also for the kind words Howie!
Slowly but surely, it is coming together little by little; as Captain Brown so aptly puts it, "The Long Painting War Continues ..."

I have found it to be overwhelming sometimes thinking about what i have left to finish, but then I break down what i need to do into smaller Stages, each with multiple Steps.
Or as Pink Floyd penned, "another brick in the wall." Then the next wall. And the next one. Speaking of walls and other urban building materials ...

I have been wanting to add more Battlefield Debris, and have an assortment of Polystyrene such as a sheet of Corrugated Styrene and just purchased a pack of Evergreen Scale Models I-Beams:




Once i had hacked up some polystyrene and spray primed them flat black, an older White Dwarf magazine article just happened to offer some tips on how to paint the Debris:




Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads, before additional Battlefield Debris:




Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads, some of the Heavy Weapons Teams have assorted Battlefield Debris added :

Nice additions to the bases. I like that you didnt go too far overboard. Can i suggest stuppling on some browns and oranges though? For being buried in the dirt, they are a bit clean imo.

That half-dried mud look in the areas away from the guns- with the brighter, churned up mud where the men have obviously been moving, is very well done (and very real life!)


I try for that on some of my bases as well- especially the crew served weapons or big guns- the ground tends to get walked on by the crews serving the guns, but the grass is almost untouched just a few feet away.


You've captured that well, here.

 genom.cor wrote:
Nice additions to the bases. I like that you didnt go too far overboard. Can i suggest stuppling on some browns and oranges though? For being buried in the dirt, they are a bit clean imo.

Thank you for checking in again genom.cor, and for the Comment & Criticism about the Battlefield Debris; i whole-heartedly agree that I applied metal with too much zeal.

Originally the Debris had been spray-primed flat black and then base-coated with Vermin Brown; however, when I painted on the metal I used Mithril Silver instead of Chainmail and the end result was too much "shine".

In order to remedy this, i applied a wash of Nuln Oil and then after this was dry a wash of Agrax Eathshade; however, i went back and stippled on some Vermin Brown and the end result is much more realistic!


Before weathering with Vermin Brown:




After weathering with Vermin Brown:

 Meer_Cat wrote:
That half-dried mud look in the areas away from the guns- with the brighter, churned up mud where the men have obviously been moving, is very well done (and very real life!)


I try for that on some of my bases as well- especially the crew served weapons or big guns- the ground tends to get walked on by the crews serving the guns, but the grass is almost untouched just a few feet away.


You've captured that well, here.

Thank you again for checking in, and the battlefield observations Meer_Cat! My understanding of hard-fought battlefields does include huge shell crates filled with sticky mud, alongside surviving vegetation.

As evidenced by this photograph taken at the Battle of Verdun, med fought in mud churned up from battlefield soil still dotted with shattered trees and clumps of grass:




Tufts of battlefield grass was more realistic than patches of static grass, and this was achieved with Woodland Scenics Field Grass appropriately enough:




A single package contains a large amount of product, with plenty of length; you just take a desired amount, cut to length, put down some Woodland Scenics Scenery Glue (extra thick formula but also extra expensive ... i just used PVA ), press the Field Grass into the glue and hold for a minute.


The shell craters were built up using a custom mix of sand, and gravel taken from a local elementary school playground and two types of Woodland Scenics Ballast,

coarse Iron Ore, and medium Cinders; in my opinion, the course Iron Ore looked like broken brickwork, and the medium cinders looked like what it's called .... burnt cinders!

There we go that looks better!

 genom.cor wrote:
There we go that looks better!

Howdy again genom.com, yes it does indeed look better! In fact, i should go back and weather the Battlefield Debris some more;
as stated in Codex: Armageddon, "considering the corrosive effects of the ash waste sands of the planet".



Here are two photos of the updated Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads, you may notice their helmets have been painted a camouflage scheme!
It's something I stumbled upon while researching the accoutrements of the Great War; I've already got Potato Masher grenades and Machine Gun Shields...

The camouflage is called "Buntfarbenanstrich" meaning "colourful painting"




Here are some World War 1 German helmets or "Stahlheim" pained in Buntfarbenanstrich camouflage:




Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads - Top view :




Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Squads - Front view:

I've been thinking about changing up the colours on my Plasma weapon coils. Right now they are a wonderful glowing green, which was chosen because I was working on Flesh Tearers at the time.

With this current army the green blends into the model, as I have painted the Armageddon Steel Legion accessories green such as Canteens, Bayonet Scabbards, Body Armour and Equipment Webbing, and Helmets.

The green is achieved with a Basecoat of Dark Angels Green, washes of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade, then highlights with Knarloc Green. Also, the weapons were painted a dark colour, blue.

Although this was achieved with Basecoat of Regal Blue, Layer with Macragge Blue, then highlighted with Ice Blue, the overall colour was much too shadow or shade for the green plasma coils.

I thought of the "Complementary Color Scheme" and decided to try the opposite of blue!



Starting with a Basecoat of Mephiston Red, I applied a Layer of Blaze Orange and then highlights with Bad Moon Yellow. Here are the results:

Hive Ganger Militia Company Command Squad




Hive Ganger Militia Company Command Squad with Steel Legion Commissar




The Company Commander is based on the French Foreign Legion in Indochina 1952:




You may notice there are some Mark 1 Storm Troopers who have been recruited into the Company Command Squad; they have superb marksmanship but lack Carapace Armour.

The back-story is that have been sent in to reinforce the Siege of Hive Infernus via Grav-Chute and are inspired by French Foreign Legion Paratroopers at Dien Bien Phu:




French Paratroopers in Indochina 1948-50




French Paratrooper with Heavy Weapon in Indochina Fatigues, c. 1946




The Steel Legion Infantry Squads had their helmet stripe colours changed; previous two Red and two Yellow Squads, they were repainted to show individual ten-man squads:

Steel Legion Infantry Squad - Rouge




Steel Legion Infantry Squad - Chengze




Steel Legion Infantry Squad - Jeune




Steel Legion Infantry Squad - Verdi

During my search for Movement Trays that would fit 25mm Round Bases, i came across a company out of New York, USA called Tectonic Craft Studios

It turns out they sell more than Movement Trays, here is their website address : https://tectoniccraftstudios.com/




There are two Movement Tray products that I am particularly interested in.


The first is their Heavy Weapons Squad Tray, here is the Internet link : https://tectoniccraftstudios.com/products/heavy-weapons-squad-tray

Priced at $ 5.50 USD, this movement tray is designed to hold eight 25mm based model and one 60mm heavy weapons team.





The second product is their Round Base Movement Tray Discount 10-Pack, here is the Internet link : https://tectoniccraftstudios.com/products/round-base-movement-tray-discount-10-pack

Their website description reads:

You need trays, your friends need trays, everyone needs trays. I made some 10 packs to make this a little easier on everyone and gave a little discount.
Note these come unglued (unlike standard movement trays) and are best assembled with wood glue of any kind.

This product is available in four ( 4 ) different Formats; five models Staggered, five models Rank & File, ten models Staggered, or ten models Rank & File

10-Pack of five-model Trays is $ 26.00 USD, 10-Pack of ten-model Trays is $ 33.00 USD ; I chose to purchase the ten models Rank & File format :




The products from Tectonic Craft Studios came shipped in a USPS padded bubble mailer:




Here is the Hive Ganger Militia Company Command Squad, with the Plasma Coils touched up a little ... drybrushed with Troll Slayer Orange, then Bad Moon Yellow, finally Skull White :




Here is the Steel Legion Company Command Squad with Savlar Captain and Steel Legion Commissar; the Savlar Storm Trooper Plasma Gun coil colours have been touched up:

I have finally completed painting of all the Steel Legion helmets in Buntfarbenmuster 1918

Translated from German : https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splittertarn

"The origin of this pattern was introduced in July 1918 color paint in the Imperial Army and Air Force. The painting for military equipment and equipment is closely linked to the construction of the Panzer Weapon by the Entente , which has been using camouflage patterns for its tanks since 1916. Although the 1918 varnish painting was not for uniforms, but were sometimes painted already truck Plane and steel helmets. It consisted of sharp Tarnflecken in the colors rust brown, green and ocher yellow, which were demarcated from each other with thick black lines. The spots were painted on; Spray paints did not arrive in the German military until the 1930s. Photographs show a variety of variations of the paint application. For example, large-scale irregular shapes in the tank A7V or honeycomb prints on the clothing of the aircraft."

I mentioned using the Buntfarbenmuster paint scheme earlier, remarking that it was " looking like 1917 ". Upon further research:

"Up until 1918 any camouflage paint schemes utilised by the German Army were improvised and therefore lacked any form of standardisation. It wasn’t until July of that year the first standardised camouflage scheme was introduced. Referred to as Buntfarbenanstrich or Buntfarbenanstrich 1918 (meaning colourful painting), the scheme consisted of simple polygon-shaped patches of ochre, brown, and various green coloured paint separated by thick black lines. -Blake Coster"




Steel Legion CCS :




PCS Red :




PCS Yellow :




Special Weapons Squad - Red :




Special Weapons Squad - Yellow :




Infantry Squad - Red :




Infantry Squad - Orange :



Infantry Squad - Yellow :




Infantry Squad - Blue :




Heavy Weapons Squads




Overview of Steel Legion army:

Wow man really good army. Fantastic progress from start to finish, you've really kept the old school feel for the army, with the use of so many different models. And the basing has really come along so well. Nice job!

Just s penny for your thought do you think a steel legion with Canadian bodies but swapped out heads would work? As they wouldn't have there tunics.

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Wow man really good army. Fantastic progress from start to finish, you've really kept the old school feel for the army, with the use of so many different models. And the basing has really come along so well. Nice job!

Just s penny for your thought do you think a steel legion with Canadian bodies but swapped out heads would work? As they wouldn't have there tunics.

Hello stonned_astartes, thank you for the kind words and also for checking out this P&M Blog! This Steel Legion army has been a labour of love and a long time coming...
I was first introduced to the 1st edition Rogue Trader Warhammer 40,000 back in 1988 and have been collecting ever since; however I hate painting eyes !
In fact, my first army was a Warhammer Fantasy Battle plastic Skeleton Army! When the Steel Legion miniatures were released with gas masks, I though it was perfect!

Since i have been collecting Citadel Miniatures since the late '80s / early '90s, i held onto all my thick paint-jobs and had not re-worked them even as newer Codexes were released;
it was only recently that I amassed enough Steel Legion miniatures to start an army; previously I had collected metal Imperial Army, Cadian, Catachan, and Mordian miniatures.


Regarding a Steel Legion with Canadian bodies with swapped out heads; that is an excellent idea that can be created with historical accuracy!
Canadian soldiers in WW1 wrapped a long strip of cloth wound spirally around the leg from ankle to knee called a "puttee".





There is a 3rd party manufacturer called Mad Robot Miniatures that makes cast resin bits : https://madrobotminiatures.com/

They make and sell a set of five resin puttee legs : https://madrobotminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_21&products_id=238




They have a wide variety of heads with gas masks, from Steel Legion-style Shocktroop heads, to French-inspired "Adrian" helmets:

https://madrobotminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=mask



I came across Mad Robot Miniatures while looking for alternate arms for my Commissars! The first one uses HA-0201 Greatcoat Officer Arms:




The second uses bits from two of their products; left-hand Chainsword from HA-0701 Imperial Officer Arms and right-hand Power Fist from HCOM-07 Commissar Arms:









However as the Steel Legion Doctrine states, i should have Transports for my ground-pounding, foot-slogging infantry ... So i have started a "Motor Pool" of Chimera Armoured Carriers.

The very first Chimera APC was purchased over a decade ago, the Mark 1 plastic kit with bonus pewter components for two riders and one Chimera tank commander:




The next four pictures are courtesy of Stuff Of Legends :










The Mark 1 Chimera only had a turret Multi-laser so here is my turret Heavy Bolter conversion, and hand-painted caution stripes on the dozer blade :




The Mark 1 Chimera had more bits which allowed you to model the rear hatch, and side track wheel sprockets; here is "wrecked Chimera" conversion:

Nice, that's got to be the oldest chimera going hasn't. All those wheel options remind me of an airfix kits, pity they aren't that modifiable now. Love it, yeah bring on the tanks!

Yeah I've been wanting some shocktroopers off mad robot minis for years now but my the cost! Its fair but pricey, and for sometime in the future. I think i may just get a squad of metal ones from GW direct for now, still the cheapest.

Catching up a bit- wonderful work on the army, you've come a long way! It's interesting, but that helmet camo pattern has puled everything together in a way almost nothing else could have; there is color repeated throughout (that helps the eye pick out individual miniatures and especially heavy weapon team members) but the colors are all highly compatible with the dull earth tones of realistic uniforms plus the ever present mud.

Truly well done.

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Nice, that's got to be the oldest chimera going hasn't. All those wheel options remind me of an airfix kits, pity they aren't that modifiable now. Love it, yeah bring on the tanks!

Yeah I've been wanting some shocktroopers off mad robot minis for years now but my the cost! Its fair but pricey, and for sometime in the future. I think i may just get a squad of metal ones from GW direct for now, still the cheapest.

Howdy again! Yessir i have a couple of " old-school " Chimera APC's and acquired a second one, used of course, from a local comic / hobby / games store; a friend of the owner had passed and i picked up a used Chimera.

Actually i was very fortunate as my girlfriend at the time bought it for me as a birthday present; it had already been painted red however, it's the one of the left with a Dwarf shield on the Track Guard.

A third old-school Chimera was acquired used off eBay; it is the one on the right.




So my Motor Pool went from one to two, then to three Chimera APCs:

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Catching up a bit- wonderful work on the army, you've come a long way! It's interesting, but that helmet camo pattern has puled everything together in a way almost nothing else could have; there is color repeated throughout (that helps the eye pick out individual miniatures and especially heavy weapon team members) but the colors are all highly compatible with the dull earth tones of realistic uniforms plus the ever present mud.

Truly well done.

Hello again Meer_Cat, so very good to see from you again and hear your creative comments! Thank you as it has come a long way and yet so much more to go.

I agree that the Buntfarbenanstrich 1918 camouflage scheme pulled everything together much better than i had anticipated, and well worth the extra effort !



I mentioned earlier in this P&M Blog that i purchased Resin Bits from Models and Minis, in particular their Track Guards for Guard Vehicles :




Two sets of resin Track Guards at the bottom, one Chimera Hazardous Environment Filter Hatch above right :





The next two ( 2 ) photos are courtesy of Models and Minis, here is the internet link to the Track Guards : https://www.modelsandminis.com/Track_guards_for_ChimeraLeman_Russ/p2965327_14270805.aspx






I spray primed the red Chimera APC's with Flat Black then applied a Basecoat of Waaagh! Flesh as it was the only green i had at the time.

Chimera # 1 with Track Guards and Chimera Hazardous Environment Filter Hatch :







Chimera # 2 with Track Guards :







Chimera # 3 with Track Guards :

The thing I really miss about the old chimeras is the fact that the outer sides were two-piece, allowed for all sorts of custom shenanigans.

Nice work by the way

Your steel legion look great! Very impressive. Good find on those movement trays, I had found some for my 10+ Rough Rider squads but had nothing in mind for my planned Infantry

 monkeytroll wrote:
The thing I really miss about the old chimeras is the fact that the outer sides were two-piece, allowed for all sorts of custom shenanigans.

Amen to this ^

Very nice. Good to see some Chimeras for your army. Looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

 monkeytroll wrote:
The thing I really miss about the old chimeras is the fact that the outer sides were two-piece, allowed for all sorts of custom shenanigans.

Nice work by the way

Hello monkeytroll and thank you for checking out this P&M Blog!

I absolutely agree that the old Chimeras allowed for more conversion opportunities, I have one that uses Forge World Etched Brass that i will be showing in the future, here is a sneak peek!

Dood! I love those brass panels and barrels halfs! Having done alot of Chimeras myself, there is something so satifying about how clean and realistic that conversion is. :slowclap:

Minigiant wrote:
Your steel legion look great! Very impressive. Good find on those movement trays, I had found some for my 10+ Rough Rider squads but had nothing in mind for my planned Infantry

 monkeytroll wrote:
The thing I really miss about the old chimeras is the fact that the outer sides were two-piece, allowed for all sorts of custom shenanigans.

Amen to this ^

Hello Minigiant and thank you for the kind words! It has been a labour of love, but well worth the effort.


About the Movement Trays, I much prefer Resin to Medium-density fibreboard for several reasons.

First is the fact that resin will not "decompose" if it gets wet; it is recommended to give the MDF a coat of sealer like Zinsser primer to prevent the material from absorbing moisture.

Second is that resin Movement Trays tend to have fine details already cast such as dirt, rocks, and skulls.

Third, MDF movement trays tend to have the holes cut a little smaller; I had to purchase a 1" Flat Spade Drill Bit to make sure the pre-drilled holes would fit 25 mm bases.


Just curious, what Base Size is a Rough Rider, 40 mm or 60 mm ?

Our fellow painter and modeller Meer_Cat built himself a wonderful base for three 60 mm Heavy Weapon Teams to make a Heavy Weapons Squad :

 Private Benjamin wrote:

Minigiant wrote:
Your steel legion look great! Very impressive. Good find on those movement trays, I had found some for my 10+ Rough Rider squads but had nothing in mind for my planned Infantry

 monkeytroll wrote:
The thing I really miss about the old chimeras is the fact that the outer sides were two-piece, allowed for all sorts of custom shenanigans.

Amen to this ^

Hello Minigiant and thank you for the kind words! It has been a labour of love, but well worth the effort.


About the Movement Trays, I much prefer Resin to Medium-density fibreboard for several reasons.

First is the fact that resin will not "decompose" if it gets wet; it is recommended to give the MDF a coat of sealer like Zinsser primer to prevent the material from absorbing moisture.

Second is that resin Movement Trays tend to have fine details already cast such as dirt, rocks, and skulls.

Third, MDF movement trays tend to have the holes cut a little smaller; I had to purchase a 1" Flat Spade Drill Bit to make sure the pre-drilled holes would fit 25 mm bases.


Just curious, what Base Size is a Rough Rider, 40 mm or 60 mm ?

I have mounted my Rough Riders on the new Cavalry bases, 65x35mm

For movement trays I am going to use Winterdynes

https://shop.winterdyne.co.uk/product/no-effort-movement-frame-c35-35x60mm-oval-5-5-offset

 genom.cor wrote:
Very nice. Good to see some Chimeras for your army. Looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

Thank you so much for coming back to check out this P&M Blog, and so very good to hear from you again genom.cor!

I whole-heartedly agree, it is good to see Chimeras as that is the ideal " theme " of the Armageddon Steel Legion ; a mechanized force ready to mobilize and move out for the Emperor!



I have a lot of plans for the Chimera APC's; plastic Imperial Guard Vehicle Accessories such as Track Guards, Shovels, Picks, Tow Cables, Hunter Killer Missiles needed to be mounted.

I tried to magnetize as many accessories and weapons as possible such as the Hull - Mounted Heavy Bolters, Heavy Flamers, Smoke Launchers and still working on Heavy Stubbers and Storm Bolters.



In addition, i still had to acquire yet more Chimera APC's as ideally all squads in the army have the option of being mounted in Chimera troop carriers.





Hunting down more used Chimeras on eBay, the Motor Pool was established !

I obtained two ( 2 ) old-school and one ( 1 ) newer Chimera APC, doubling the Motor Pool in size from three ( 3 ) to six ( 6 ) Chimera APC's.

There are some bits in the middle of the Motor Pool, which are Chapterhouse Studies Wheeled Chimera Kits but these are being requisitioned for my Storm Troopers :

 genom.cor wrote:
Dood! I love those brass panels and barrels halfs! Having done alot of Chimeras myself, there is something so satifying about how clean and realistic that conversion is. :slowclap:

Hello again genom.cor, I appreciate your dedication and helpful comments so much I had to dedicate an entire post to reply!


I only came across the Forge World : Etched Brass products recently; i have always been a huge fan of their custom Resin, even owning a set of resin Flesh Tearers Space Marine icons.

Here are the Forge World : Eatched Brass - Imperial Eagles, in sizes Medium and Small ; photos are courtesy of Forge World :







In keeping with the tradition of being a budget hobbyist, I found my Forge World : Eatched Brass - Imperial Eagles used on eBay :






I clipped the Etched Brass plate off with a pair of cutters being extremely careful when handling, as the brass is extremely thin making it fragile and dangerous; it can flex and bend, but also cut skin as it is razor sharp.

Wiping the surface clean with rubbing alcohol on a soft cloth, the panel was super glued to the Chimera track sides :







After spray priming the Chimera sides with Krylon flat black spray paint :

What a terrific find those etched brass bits were! I like the look of your chimera track housings with them, very natural look and highly unique for your force.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
What a terrific find those etched brass bits were! I like the look of your chimera track housings with them, very natural look and highly unique for your force.

Howdy meer_cat and thank you two-fold for dropping in again, and for the comments!

I have yet more plans for the Forge World : Etched Brass yet, and with very historical significance.


From the Government of Canada website : http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/beaumonthamel/somme

" During the Battle of the Somme in World War I, the Canadian soldiers had a tin triangle attached to their backs so as to enable identification and to follow progress by the liaison aircraft and artillery observers;
but for men lying wounded, or in such cover as they could find, the shiny tin triangle also signalled any movement to the enemy.

As the injured soldiers began crawling and dragging their twisted limbs over the shell torn ground the tin triangles glinted in the hot sun and more than a few of the dead lay there with a bullet in their back because of it."





About the Chimera track housings; it was more out of necessity and economical use of Track Guards that lead to the unique look;

I really liked the look of Track Guards but was a cheap Chinaman

In the past I had fashioned my own scratch - built Track Guards for Leman Russ tanks out of thin cardboard, actually sourced from cereal packets / boxes!

Here is the " Before " and " After " photos using cardboard Track Guards on the tanks in my burgeoning Imperial Guard Tank Company :







However, i was acquiring quite a few Chimeras now and started looking around for commercial options.

At one point, Forge World made resin Track Guards but were now discontinued as they are now on the Imperial Guard Vehicle Accessory Sprue.

Despite this availability, I did not need all the bits that are on the the Vehicle Accessory Sprue, and the cost to obtain the USD $ 15.00 sprue ( brand new ) was discouraging, so I started applying the Track Guards more sparingly.

In addition to using Games Workshop plastic Track Guards, I did searches for other manufacturers and was thrilled when i came across a very well-priced and highly-detailed set from Models and Minis !



Here is an updated photo of the Motor Pool; additional bits for more Chimera APC's have been purchased from Bits - World on eBay, who also operate as Hobby Titan :

I'm guessing that since you're pretty much as far away from Newfoundland as it's possible to be and still be in Canada you won't be painting the puttees blue?

I dunno- if you hadn't said, I wouldn't have tumbled that the track guards on the LR were cereal packet cardboard- very nice work. Although, it can get to be a pain to make multiple (fiddly, difficult, vexatious, fill-in-the-blank) homemade solutions when you have a large number of conversions to make.

Absolutely chilling, the story behind the tin triangles on the infantry during WWI. As a careerist/survivor myself, I'm highly tempted to believe that someone actually said at the time "hey, is this really a good idea, putting targets on the men to carry around?" and some (non-over the top going) overweight officer saying "Well yeah- how else are we going to track them?"

I'd like to think that the idea was applied with the best of intentions and no knowledge of the unintended consequences. Unfortunately, 30 years of service has cost my my naivette', belief and girlish laughter.

What a fascinating detail to work into your Army-

I meant to add much earlier how flattered I was that you thought enough of my modest attempt at a battery base to show it here, on your own blog!

The motor pool is looking strong, good going. Nice work with the track gaurds, I think if you had used platicard it might have been to thick for you application.

Are your men getting triangles then? Maybe something for conscripts.

Conscripts or bring back the penal battalions from First Edition!

 Excommunicatus wrote:
I'm guessing that since you're pretty much as far away from Newfoundland as it's possible to be and still be in Canada you won't be painting the puttees blue?

I was considering that quite seriously, to the point where I was looking at the Puttee Legs cast in resin from Mad Robot Miniatures : https://madrobotminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=238

 Meer_Cat wrote:
I dunno- if you hadn't said, I wouldn't have tumbled that the track guards on the LR were cereal packet cardboard- very nice work. Although, it can get to be a pain to make multiple (fiddly, difficult, vexatious, fill-in-the-blank) homemade solutions when you have a large number of conversions to make.

Absolutely chilling, the story behind the tin triangles on the infantry during WWI. As a careerist/survivor myself, I'm highly tempted to believe that someone actually said at the time "hey, is this really a good idea, putting targets on the men to carry around?" and some (non-over the top going) overweight officer saying "Well yeah- how else are we going to track them?"

I'd like to think that the idea was applied with the best of intentions and no knowledge of the unintended consequences. Unfortunately, 30 years of service has cost my my naivette', belief and girlish laughter.

What a fascinating detail to work into your Army-

Yessir, what seems like a good idea at the time turned out to be horribly disastrous. However, there were lessons learned and we all know that necessity is the mother of invention;
the introduction of designated Sniper units did not help officers either and once flashy and shiny brass badges on caps and shoulders began to disappear they were replaced by much more subdued patches.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
I meant to add much earlier how flattered I was that you thought enough of my modest attempt at a battery base to show it here, on your own blog!

Great minds think alike, and although I am always on the search for new ideas and designs i welcome the opportunity to share knowledge as well !

 stonned_astartes wrote:
The motor pool is looking strong, good going. Nice work with the track gaurds, I think if you had used platicard it might have been to thick for you application.

Are your men getting triangles then? Maybe something for conscripts.

Thank you for checking in again and also for the kind words stonned_astartes! My men are absolutely getting Identification Markers, however it is still a Work-In-Progress as i acquired ten more Legionnaires on eBay.
The next two photos are courtesy of the Seller; it would have been nice if he had taken a different photo such as of the rear for example.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Conscripts or bring back the penal battalions from First Edition!

I haven't got a Penal Trooper but i do have a Human Bomb metal miniature from First Edition / old school Rogue Trader days :

A Human Bomb with a Lascannon seems like a fairly silly thing.

 Excommunicatus wrote:
A Human Bomb with a Lascannon seems like a fairly silly thing.

Hello again Excommunicatus, that is a very amusing and astute observation!

While the Penal Troopers were armed and organized into Infantry Squads just like Guardsmen, they were "controlled" by their explosive collars.
Human Bombs, while also kept in line, were considered much more expendable and as such they were not issued any armaments apart from the aforementioned explosive.

Here are a couple of "before" and "after" photos in this post; first off are the new Steel Legion members acquired from eBay :




The next set of "before" and "after" photos are the Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Teams; before back when they were being organized :





This "after" photo is a top-down view of the Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Teams now, with the addition of two ( 2 ) Rapier Laser Destroyers :

I found my way here from one of your other threads... so cool to see all these old minis again! We have a lot of the same stock... Kasrkin, tech gangers, Orlocks, old stormtroopers, human bombs... classic stuff. I've similarly been refitting mine for contemporary Scions list building. My squad leaders are all old commissars and captains, etc. Excellent work here, a real labor of love. Great work developing those bases too!

I love the bases! and the steel legion rocket guys are still some of my nostalgic favorites. In particular i like the sense of connection between the bases

Excellent army, love the Steel Legion models.

 MacPhail wrote:
I found my way here from one of your other threads... so cool to see all these old minis again! We have a lot of the same stock... Kasrkin, tech gangers, Orlocks, old stormtroopers, human bombs... classic stuff. I've similarly been refitting mine for contemporary Scions list building. My squad leaders are all old commissars and captains, etc. Excellent work here, a real labor of love. Great work developing those bases too!

Thank you so very much MacPhail for taking the time to read through the P&M Blogs and make your way here!

I own a copy of the most-famous red cover Warhammer 40,000 Compendium which has a wealth of source material, both creative written word and fabulous illustrations :



And as such have wanted to build a "Imperial Army" style force with an incorporation of old and new, blending nicely in the grimdark universe we love...

I greatly appreciate your consideration and comments, especially coming from someone who has amazing creative concepts as well; I took the opportunity to check out your scenery blog!

 amazingturtles wrote:
I love the bases! and the steel legion rocket guys are still some of my nostalgic favorites. In particular i like the sense of connection between the bases

Thank you amazingturtles for coming in to check out this P&M Blog!

I noticed that while many modelers pay attention to the miniature itself going to such fine details as fine blending with an airbrush, applying fine lines or checkering or jewels, or non-metallic metallic,
i picked up a pamphlet from Vallejo about their Weather Effects products : https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/categoria/hobby/weathering-effects-en/

While some of these techniques have been offered by Games Workshop such as the Snow, Rust, Mud, and even Grass, the application of Weathering is mainly applied to military models.

Taking this into consideration, I decided to apply as much attention to the bases as the model itself especially considering that in historical photos World War I was quite detailed;
churned mud filled with empty shell casings, barbed wire, building fragments, dead and dying vegetation, and body parts strewn about...

 Cap'n Facebeard wrote:
Excellent army, love the Steel Legion models.

Hello and greetings Cap'n Facebeard! Thank you so very much coming in to check out this Blog, and also for the comment!

What drew me to the Steel Legion were two main reasons ... first off, the "look" of the WWI-era uniforms and equipment, re-breathers of course;
and secondly, the fact that I absolutely despised... no, HATED... painting eyeballs. In fact, my very first Warhammer Fantasy Battle Army was Skeletons,
back when they sold the WFB "Skeleton Army" plastic boxed set with mounted skeletal cavalry and a two-steed skeletal chariot!




Here is an update of the Steel Legion "Motor Pool" with the new Chimeras having been assembled and lined up, facing to the left :

Had to Exalt your thread as I keep losing it. When I refresh my paypal I need to get some of those Tectonic Craft Studios movement trays as my Guard take too long to move according to some of my regular opponents.

Nice Steel Legion there.

Cheers,

CB

Nice work on the motor pool.

Captain Brown wrote:
Had to Exalt your thread as I keep losing it. When I refresh my paypal I need to get some of those Tectonic Craft Studios movement trays as my Guard take too long to move according to some of my regular opponents.

Nice Steel Legion there.

Cheers,

CB

Hello again Captain Brown, thank you for coming in yet again and for the comments!

Regarding the Movement Trays though, I keep coming across new products here they are !

This time the products are produced by Nightmare Faction Studio out of Texas, USA : https://www.facebook.com/Nightmarefactionstudio/

They showed off some of their Movement Trays on the Facebook website, Armageddon Steel Legion Group page : https://www.facebook.com/groups/353178724883087/

Here is a selection of their laser-cut MDF Movement Trays along with pricing in US dollars :





I asked them to make me a custom Movement Tray for Imperial Guard Command Squads, so i can run a Heavy Weapons Team and associated foot sloggers :





The owner / operator of Nightmare Faction Studio responded with his drawing, and then a photo of the finished product :

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Nice work on the motor pool.

Hello there stonned_astartes! Thank you for dropping in to cehck out the progress, and the comment!

Who doesn't love updates, especially with more photos! First off, assembled Chimeras with resin bits from Models and Minis :





Next up is the addition of turrets for the two new unpainted Chimeras in the front row :





Updated Motor Pool with Extra Armour, Stowage, and Combat Identification Panels on Turrets : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Identification_Panel





Still more to come; as it is the theme of Steel Legion to give every trooper a ride, I have more than six Infantry Squads to mount up...
2 X Company Commpand Squads, 5 X Special Weapons Squads, 5 X Heavy Weapons Teams and attached Commissars all need to be mounted up.

Considering that Heavy Weapons Teams count as 2 models each, they require the same as the six-man Special Weapons Teams.
Ideally I would like a total of twelve Chimeras to achieve this, so four more Chimera armoured personnel carriers to go!

So how do movement trays work when it comes to melee? Do you take them out of the tray for the charge?

I'm liking the idea of them 'cause moving 60 Daemonettes is laborious, but then the idea of only five of them fighting from the first rank doesn't appeal.

 Excommunicatus wrote:
So how do movement trays work when it comes to melee? Do you take them out of the tray for the charge?

I'm liking the idea of them 'cause moving 60 Daemonettes is laborious, but then the idea of only five of them fighting from the first rank doesn't appeal.

Hello again Excommunicatus ! Your are correct in that I only use the trays for presentation and not for gaming; ideally i would like to build a 2 X 2 Armies On Parade board!

In fact, i have acquired a piece of blue polystyrene construction insulation foam and have started working on preliminary sketches...







New MDF Movement Trays from Nightmare Faction Studios based in Dallas, Texas USA came in today, with a FREEBIE included !

4 X Imperial Guard Command Squad Movement Tray ( One X 60mm Round Base & Four X 25mm Round Base cutouts )

* FREEBIE MDF Movement Tray: Ten X 25mm Round Base cutouts in 2 X 5 Format

All the MDF Movement Trays are high quality laser-cut with rounded edges, and come supplied unglued; now to buy some Wood Glue !

Is it going to be a front-line/no-man's land type of thing? Will there be trenches?

Twelve Chimeras seems like a lot for a 2'x2' board.

Also, FWIW, Home Depot sells 2'x8'x.5" sheets of Foamular for $8.24 each.

Very cool Private Benjamin. Thanks for the details on the movement trays. While part of me laments having to consider using trays for my Guardsmen. Speeding up the game and shortening my turn for the benefit of my opponent is a strong motivator. If I get them it will only be for larger battles, not for a 50 FP game.

Cheers,

CB

 Excommunicatus wrote:
Is it going to be a front-line/no-man's land type of thing? Will there be trenches?

Twelve Chimeras seems like a lot for a 2'x2' board.

Also, FWIW, Home Depot sells 2'x8'x.5" sheets of Foamular for $8.24 each.

Hello again Excommunicatus and thank you for both the comments and questions;

I was hoping for something similar to the Armies On Parade board crafted by Ezki in his Dakka P&M Blog here: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/764420.page





I don't think i will have the space to do that; it's going to be tough squeezing over a hundred and twenty Guardsmen into trenches, so i'm going with a "No Man's Land" theme as you mentioned.

Thank you for the info about foam board available at Home Depot; however a local construction site kindly "donated" a few sheets of blue foam board for me to work with!




Having such a plentiful supply of polystyrene panels, I am considering a custom 2 X 2 Armies On Parade board having individual cut-outs for each Movement Tray.

By the way, I know Canada Post is into Week 5 (or maybe 6) of their strikes but please let me know when the Care Package reaches you sir!

Captain Brown wrote:
Very cool Private Benjamin. Thanks for the details on the movement trays. While part of me laments having to consider using trays for my Guardsmen. Speeding up the game and shortening my turn for the benefit of my opponent is a strong motivator. If I get them it will only be for larger battles, not for a 50 FP game.

Cheers,

CB

Hello again and thank you for posting the comments!

Ultimately i would like a custom 2 X 2 Armies On Parade board having individual cut-outs for each Movement Tray, but as a veteran
Warhammer Fantasy Battle gamer I have found it very creative to have themed Movement Trays for each Army!

The Nightmare Faction Studio MDF laser cut Movement Trays did not come glued and assembled, so i went Wood Glue shopping!

My local Wal-Mart hardware section had Wood Glue made by two different manufacturers; Gorilla and Lepage.







As a Cheap Chinaman ... errrr thrifty hobbyist I purchased the Lepage Pro Carpenter's Glue




My theory is although it takes longer to set up and dry than the Lepage Express Quick Dry Glue, it should be a stronger bond





With the few clamps in my tool box, I applyed a thin layer of Wood Glue and clamped each Movement Tray for the recommended 25 minutes, cleaning with warm water





I used to work for Tolko Lumber on the green chain at a cedar sawmill in North Vancouver; they kindly "donated" a six-pack of gloss black aerosol paint






Bottom of Movement Trays after two coats of gloss black aerosol paint; due to the cold outdoor temperatures at this time in Canada i had some issues with thick paint

I recently made a purchase on eBay of what i thought were * metal * Armageddon Steel Legion miniatures;
what appeared to be three Heavy Weapons Teams, each one being the Heavy Bolter.

The price was very affordable considering they were shipped from Spain; here is the eBay Purchase Details :




Here are four photos of the Heavy Weapons Teams, provided by the seller:











This is what the contents of the padded envelope containted :





I purchased several used Citadel 60mm Round Bases from a member of the Armageddon Steel Legion fan group page on Facebook :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/353178724883087/







I glued magnets on the underside of the resin Armageddon Steel Legionnaires and the Autocannon; these matched with magnets on the underneath of the 60mm Round Base.
Additional plastic details were glued down with Testor's Plastic Cement; plasticard and barbed wire provided additional debris.

Here they are as a work-in progress, alongside a resin Kromlech oval 120 mm Junk City Flyer Base which has been already spray primed :





Here are two more photos, showing the resin Armageddon Steel Legion Autocannon Heavy Weapons Teams with additional detail and equipment :







The next three photos were taken in a Light Box. They feature the Armageddon Steel Legion resin Heavy Weapon Teams and metal Legionnaires being painted.

Good to see your cracking on and moving forward with the Steel Legion. Should be good to see your armies on parade board.

Those resin heavy weapon teams are easy enough to create, I've done it myself, made about 10 heavy bolter teams, but then didn't progress with the army.

Keep up the good work bud.

Resin, interesting.

Did GW ever make Steel Legion in resin? I thought they were all pewter, which would mean those are recasts- not the end of the world, but I'd be a little annoyed if I bought models advertised as the real deal that were actually recasts.

Well you think they might be cheaper at least.

 howie wrote:
Good to see your cracking on and moving forward with the Steel Legion. Should be good to see your armies on parade board.

Those resin heavy weapon teams are easy enough to create, I've done it myself, made about 10 heavy bolter teams, but then didn't progress with the army.

Keep up the good work bud.

Hello again howie !!! Thank you for the info, it was the first time i've thought of using resin to recast even though Forge World has proven it to be possible with their Elysian range.

catbarf wrote:
Did GW ever make Steel Legion in resin? I thought they were all pewter, which would mean those are recasts- not the end of the world, but I'd be a little annoyed if I bought models advertised as the real deal that were actually recasts.

Howdy catbarf, thank you for checking out this ASL P&M Blog and the comments!

Although i felt a dual-pronged stab of disappointment right away when I opened the package, it was more from lack of communication than realizing they were not metal.
Ideally i wanted to create an all-metal Armageddon Steel Legion army, it was possible to perform conversions with the resin ASL.

 stonned_astartes wrote:
Well you think they might be cheaper at least.

Hello stonned_astartes! They are about cheaper as the recasts are about 2/3 the price of metal, and shipping is much less due to the reduced weight.

The same seller has been casting resin ASL Missile Launcher Heavy Weapons Teams, and now has resin Ratling Snipers and Imperial Ogryns!