In the grim darkness of the far future, the Advisory Council of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica holds a secret meeting. All their meetings are secret, but anyway: The subject is mushrooms. Hundreds of Councillors have gathered in the dark conference chamber, illuminated by the greenish hologram of a fly agaric. With croaking voices, a number of Councillors from the Applied Biomancy Section detail various fungus species and their psyche-enhancing capabilites. The Master massages his temples, interjecting ’Proceed!’ now and then. Finally, an elderly Biomancer concludes, ’…so we hypothesise that, with enough mushrooms, we could increase the effectiveness of an average Psyker by 1.5434 %’. The Master grimaces, unimpressed. ’You may organise an expeditionary force’, he says, ’but only a small one’. Waving his arm, the Master dismisses the Councillors, and the meeting is over.

The responsibility falls on Primaris Psyker Agaricus, who has a fitting name, but little experience in organising expeditions. Recruitment proves difficult. Agaricus requests aid from various Space Marine Chapters, but none of them have units available ’at this very moment’. An Ultramarine official even threatens to report him to the Inquisition, hinting at the ’weird’ nature of his mission. Disappointed, he visits the Departmento Munitorum Headquarters, where he has to sit in a queue for ages, before a weary administrator tells him that ’you can have one of the Cadian reserves’. Agaricus eyes the list of reserve units with resignation, deciding on the 414th Regiment. It turns out the 414th Regiment has a terrible reputation, including desertations, mutinies, heretic tendencies and (reportedly) recruitment of xenos.

Here we take a look at two humble Guardsmen of 414th Cadian. They are a bit smaller and greener than most Guardsmen, but super ready for the Mushroom Hunt.



More pictures are coming! Feedback is welcome.

this is heresy i can get behind, because it'd be pretty silly to get in front of.

good scheme for the grot- er guardsmen. almost Alpha Legion deceptive disguises.

An oven mitt. Superb.

Well, it's a novel idea

Well done on not going Cadian I did, just for ease, and I am looking to mix in some odd models to break up the monotony. There's a bomb-squat in the veterans unit, a Ratling WHT, and some female infantry mixed in (one might end up as a tank commander or something).
Your Grot squad will do perfectly like that, and you can have them as a command squad, or whatever.

Many exalts. I'm onboard for the Hunt

Hell yes, a shame I can only subscribe once!

This is a beautiful project, i hope that they find all of the mushrooms that their clearly not at all heretical hearts desire.

Don't forget to make a weirdboy sanctioned psyker with a basket full of glowy shrooms!

Looking forward to seeing more.

I am so ready to see a full army of these!

Thanks for the kind comments! I’m glad you noticed the oven mitt, youwashock. It’s an essential accessory for any pitmaster. Also, Hawky, rest assured: There will be a Sanctioned Mushroom Basket Carrier. I’ll dive directly into the next update.

Agaricus travels to Procul 83, where the 414th Cadian are stationed. Procul 83 is a small forest planet, far out in the Segmentum Obscurus. It has nothing of value, only trees and dangerous animals (which is why the 414th Cadian were sent there, most probably). The trip takes a while, but Agaricus is beginning to loosen up. It’s great to be out of the gloomy Council Chambers for once. When the ship approaches orbit, he even hums a little, as he prepares to enter the drop pod. Apparently, Procul 83 doesn’t have a major city, so the Navigator chooses a landing spot at random. ’It’s such a small planet anyway, you’ll find the troopers in no time’. The descent goes smoothly, and the drop pod crashes gently through the treetops. Agaricus has barely opened the Thermal Protection Door, before he sees a representative of the 414th Cadian, striding towards him.



Enjoy! Wablam! The pictures didn't come out as good as I thought they would, but I hope you can put up with them. Let's say we leave something to your imagination.

Oh man, I just love this! Seeing people's unique takes on IG is always fun, and this must be the coolest idea I've seen in a while. The oven mitt gave me a big chuckle! Almost makes me want to do gobbo-guardsmen instead of my skaven ones

This is a great idea.
My thoughts are what would you want as an IG/AM army made from a Fantasy Battle army?
I am thinking Empire could work out pretty good.

Two of my favourite things in one silly package. What could be better?

Wow, very cool!

I love the storytelling you're doing with this, keep it up!

OH wow - these are awesome. You must be a fungi to play against!

In a tricky project like this there's not mushroom for error - be sure to stay out of truffle

Looking forward to the next update! The partial heresies are the best!

Having fun with one's army is just the best. Loving the mitten, little characterful details always make the day better

Loving those old night gobbos being used like this. Following with interest

I can already hear inquisitor screaming: WHERE ARE THE SHROOMSTEALERS?!

Gorgeous conversions!

Ok, this is great.

Ah, thanks for all the encouragement! It's time for another update.

Agaricus looks up at the gigantic, two-legged construction, towering above him. The hatch creaks open, and he discerns a pair of red-gleaming eyes in the shadows within. ’What’s your business?’ asks a squeaky voice. Agaricus says something vague about imperial affairs, forgetting for a moment that he technically ranks higher than the whole planet. ’Take me to your commander’ he adds, more decisively. Right then, a number of blue-dressed soldiers emerge from the undergrowth, lasguns pointed in his general direction.




I hope you like them! Next update will be about mushrooms, more specifically.

Tau Guardsman?! Call commissar!

Oh Bravo. Bravo!

Backstory of the 414th Guard Unit:

The Departmento Munitorum in this new age of strife has found the "near limitless" masses of man to be stretched to a discernible limit.
They are guided by one main tenet in all things:

"There is no right or wrong in our profession. The present changes the past from moment to moment. Only pray for the future to vindicate your actions."
— Litany of the Adepts, Canticle of the Administrator

The "Pioneer Corps" are practical in the extreme and have noticed that the "Labor Corps" have had great success in using conquered races slated for extermination to assist in building proper Imperial structures and settlements.
To have an already "broken-in" trained force would be an unforgivable loss of the Emperor's resources to be eliminated when construction was complete.
To have a ready-made "expedable" AM/IG force, akin to the Planetary Defense Forces (PDF) it alleviates the manpower shortage while meeting the other goal of exterminating xenos populations.

The main difficulty is finding the appropriate "enlightened" Commissariat that see the big picture and not shoot them on sight.
Col. Schaeffer was engaged to help select the disciplined command needed for this kind of "special" leadership: to take the unworthy (the almost literal walking dead) and fashion them to die (to achieve the emperor's forgiveness) in his service while taking as much of the enemy with them they can.

It was identified that extensive use of "abhumans" sprinkled throughout the force helped with enforcing discipline and gave them greater purpose.
Variatus strain (Beastmen) make excellent Sgts, Homo sapiens gigantus (Ogryns) for enforcement and general "morale adjustment", Homo sapiens minimus (Ratlings) are ideal for manning most long range weaponry and are known to occasionally perform target practice on those that forget which direction the front line is, Homo sapiens rotundus (Squats) tend to perform the engineering since the Mechanicus want nothing to do with anything considered xenos which may be necessary due to alien hand configuration (or unsanctioned modification of holy STC specified weaponry).

DONE: This is my best attempt at "justifying" the existence of this kind of force and not having any 40k puritan's head implode while drawing from a fair bit of 40k background.

I like the idea of having that "I" on the shoulder pad: this would be a fairly "pure" Munitorum action using Xenos:


I had made a ton of edits to clean this up... I have one question though: every effort should be made to remove enemy allegiance colours.
While the Tau orange makes it really apparent, "realistically" it would be immediately painted over at the very least to avoid "friendly" fire, right?

 Talizvar wrote:


I had made a ton of edits to clean this up... I have one question though: every effort should be made to remove enemy allegiance colours.
While the Tau orange makes it really apparent, "realistically" it would be immediately painted over at the very least to avoid "friendly" fire, right?

Yes. Following historical precedent, one tries to equip foreign nationals in your country's service with similar, if not the same, uniforms and gear. It also simplifies resupply. Similarly, during the Napoleonic Wars, while the Spanish and Portuguese armies remained independent commands, the British supplied uniforms and gear in the current Royal Army style, but dyed in Spanish and Portuguese colors. OTOH, in the ancient world, since uniformity was rare, less well provided forces (such as Gauls, Britons, and Germanic tribes) would use plundered gear as is, so having some of the aforementioned war bands kitted out in plundered Roman armor is accurate and would not have confused their comrades since everyone wore/used what they had and there was no "uniform" look. It comes down to what best suits your purposes.

Your home-brew IG regiment is clever and entertaining. Orks, while not mushrooms, are a fungal lifeform ... Perhaps they could be of use to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica?

I may have made a great tactical error in not stating clearly I offered my above "research" to fill-out the OP's army lore, not to hijack it.
I am in no way involved with the 414th guard other than wanting to see this become a full army because it would AWESOME.

A shared error; I did not notice that you were not the OP.

 Talizvar wrote:
I may have made a great tactical error in not stating clearly I offered my above "research" to fill-out the OP's army lore, not to hijack it.
I am in no way involved with the 414th guard other than wanting to see this become a full army because it would AWESOME.

Loving the Tau that snuck in

Very, very cool, Pomander! Creative in the extreme and very well executed so far!

Really looking forward to more, and the back story is engaging. In the grim darkness of the far future, pretty much anything can (and does) happen. It also sets up why this army could be fighting against other Imperial forces, who see them as xenos/heretics.

With one hand of the Imperium having no clue what the other hand is doing, especially with the Cicatrix Maledictum in full swing, I can only imagine how many minor civil wars are occurring within the Imperium at a given time.

Thank you folks! You're keeping me encouraged. I also appreciate your thoughts on the fluff, Talizvar. You're onto something with the pragmatic 'pioneer corps', using dispensable imperial subjects. It's lucky for the 414th Cadian that they're considered unreliable, otherwise the Imperium would have used them more effectively. Anyway, update time!

’Lower your weapons’ says Agaricus, ’I come in peace’. The soldiers watch him, unconvinced. He reaches inside his garments, and brings out the folder with Departmento Munitorum papers. The soldiers relax a little; Only harmless people keep their papers in folders. ’I’m your new supreme commander, it’s says so here’. One of the soldiers, presumably the squad leader, chuckles. ’Alright master, come along then’.

The two-legged machine strides off, and the soldiers follow, Agaricus behind them. They’re a little short for troopers, he thinks to himself, distractedly. There’s something unusual about their appearance, certainly, maybe it has to do with the local climate? Agaricus looks around, and notices that one of the soldiers pushes a little trolley, bouncing carelessly over roots and rocks. With rising heartbeat, he takes in what the trolley carries. White stalks, white gills, red caps with white dots.



Agaricus hasn't quite met with these guys yet, but I'll show them anyway.


Enjoy!

Quite nice; I like how you integrated the second crewmember on the HB.

This is one of the coolest projects I've ever seen! I can't wait to see more.

Thank you, CommissarKhaine and Heretic Tom! It’s time for another update.

Agaricus is bewildered: There are mushrooms growing on Procul 83. According to official reports, all fungiform species were eradicated in this solar system, when the Imperial fleet used bio-bombs to drive out Ork invaders, some 200 years ago. What confuses Agaricus more, however, is that the soldiers of the 414th Cadian seem to harvest mushrooms, even before he’s told them to do so!


Hurrying through the woods, they soon arrive at a small encampment. Agaricus notes that some of the soldiers aren’t quite as small and green as the ones he first met, instead they look remarkably tidy and healthy. He also notes that the taller soldiers have different equipment, notably shovels, indicating a different role.

When it comes to human-sized models, I usually glue everything together before painting. This time, I experimented with separated components, and thought it might be interesting.



Here is the finished version.



He has a comrade as well, also equipped with a shovel.



What might their different role be? You tell me!

Actual humans in this blog? Heresy!

Nice paintjob on the 'umies!

He's looking so intensely at the mushroom, it's great!

The humans could be bodyguards in your command squads. The idea of using humans as meat-shields for your obviously more valuable Grot bosses just makes me laugh.

Great work on these. I love the colour pallet, and really well executed.

Pioneers?

There ought to be a prize for this. Once done, you might want to run it by the WH Community channel...

Thanks for your kind words, Khaine, Turtles, Crowe, Not online and Samus. Interesting suggestions too! The role of these slightly taller guardsmen is, in fact, hunting for subterranean fungi, e.g. truffles. That's why they carry shovels. There might be dogs and/or pigs later on.

The story (let's call it Agaricus Adventures) will have to wait a little, but I have pictures for you. This time, I entered the monthly painting challenge, so you might have seen the WIP picture over there. I'll post it here as well, for reference.



Today I finished it, so here's the painted and assembled version! Enjoy! By the way, sculpting beetles is harder than you think. With all the failed attempts, most of them looking like six-legged spiders, I think I could write a little tutorial.



And now, a little sneak peek of the next update, for those of you who miss the shorter members of the 414th Cadian. Have you ever wondered how long you can extend the heavy weapon telescope stand? Let’s find out!

Haha, wonderful heavy weapon team there at the end Remarkable how ell the cadian arms actually fit...

The ML team is brilliant. Better hold on tight when he fires that thing.

ML team is definitely ready to raise hell, they look great!

Nice work Pomander Cask.

Cheers,

CB

That really is a beautiful blue color for that human heavy weapons squad and it looks like some nice highlighting for natural light effects if I'm seeing that right. And each model so far has such immense character. They all tell their own little story with those great, unique bases they each have. Very impressive project so far.

Wonderful models Pomander Cask! The HW teams are brilliant (looking forward to seeing other angles of the ML team, and how did you do the legs of the upper gobbo). You've got great sculpting skills and I really enjoy your clean and crisp freehand work.

Loving the ML with the Gobbo poking out! The beetles came out pretty great, well worth all of the 6 legged spiders!

Thanks everyone! It’s good to hear you like the Missile Launcher Team, Aestas, Youwashock, Tom and Gobert. And McMattila, well spotted, the upper team member’s legs were probably the most time-consuming aspect of that model. I’ll definitely show more pictures of those shanks. Also, thanks a lot, Riddle of Steel. Natural-looking light effects is what I’m aiming for. In all honesty, though, some of the shadows result from my photo set-up, with two fairly strong light bulbs.

It’s time for another update! I’ll keep you guessing about the Missile Launcher Team, because I want to introduce another interesting fellow instead…

They walk towards a small tent, located in the middle of the encampment. One of the soldiers pulls the canvas aside, saluting. ’Lieutenant, we have a visitor’. Agaricus leans into the tent, and discerns a small figure, reclined in a chair. ’Lieutenant Suillus, at your service’ says the figure with a grin, revealing a set of remarkably pointy teeth. The figure stretches out a sinewy hand, and Agaricus shakes it, reluctantly.

And here we have Suillus, a Company Commander. Since he’s the first actual character of this army, I wanted to make him… recognizable.



The sculpting consumed unexpected amounts of green-stuff, but this felt appropriate for a character model with luxurious components. For the record, there are mushrooms this big, even in our world. The cap of Termitomyces titanicus, an African mushroom, may reach a diameter of one metre. Anyway, here is the painted version!



I hope you enjoy! I might paint the Missile Launcher Team for next update.

Amazing, let me congratulate on that mushy mushroom!

Great expressive pose for the commander, and very nice design and paint job on the mushroom. Just a tip, If you want to save on the amount on GS on big sculpts, you can use milliput mixed with greenstuff in ca. 50/50 amount to sculpt the base. Milliput doesn't have many adventages over GS except the cost, but for large, even and organic surfaces, it can actually be easier to get a nice, even but still natural looking surface with the slightly stiffer gs/milliput mix Still, just plain great work on the mushroom

Its just awesome.
I can't imagine what this army has to use as a tech repair guy, given that the sgt is carrying part of a sentinal as a sword.

Thank you people! I’ll keep your special solutions in mind, Aestas. Here is a rather modest update, with two models I’ve been working on. The Adeptus Astra Telepathica does not approve of metal or resin; One shall use plastic only. Fortunately, there are lots of useful plastic parts in the Command Squad sprues…

Awesome! Great conversions and I love that a human has goblin arms!

Weird and delicious! Looking forward to your progress.

In before the Inquisition discovers your heresy.

I love the model holding the bolt pistol like a submachinegun. That comes across as logical considering the power that gun is supposed to kick out.

The idea is wonderfully crazy and your sculpting and painting skills are on a level to actually pull it off nicely! Great work, I'll be following your progress.

Thank you Chaotic, JB, Waaazag and McAllister! I’m glad you like the conversions. The Astropath turned out a bit cartoonish, I think, so I’ve banished him to the shelf at present. The Commissar on the other hand…

Commissar Pilz has served the 414th Cadian for a long time. He was once a promising officer, known for courage and ruthlessness. When he first joined the 414th Cadian, he was so upset at the apparent lack of discipline that he executed several squads entirely. The remaining troops weren’t intimidated, however, and went on with their swearing, drinking, brawling and gambling. The High Command told him to lower his standards, and he did, reluctantly. Commissar Pilz has adapted to the situation gradually, and even participates in the more sophisticated dice games from time to time. He still gets an urge to execute his subordinates sometimes, especially if they’re looking small and green, but usually confines himself to beating them with his custom-made Power Baton.

And here he is! I added a cybernetic eye during the painting process, to spare you from the original look of pathological strabismus.

Nice work! Even the commisars can't get away unchanged, i like that.

Nice one, he is a bit pale though.

Pomander Cask,

Nice little...er big...er taller than you average Grot Company Commander Suillus.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks, Turtles, Not Online and Brown! I’ve got another officer for you, this one is called Commander Boletus. He might earn his own background story, eventually. All we know about him currently is that he smokes a lot of cigars.

First off, two WIP shots. I tried using separated components again. Also, I textured the green-stuff tree with superglue and kitchen spices (cumin and nutmeg specifically), which worked rather well and made for an interesting olfactory experience.



Now, here is the painted version. Enjoy!

Looks like he may have dealt with a problematic commissar already!

Great work on that freehand, it’s so clean I suspect decals would be a step down! Also, I’m incredibly jealous of your patience.

Nice work on the tree stump and the lighting on the plasma is great!

Thank you, Chaotic and Gobert! You spotted the things I spent most time on. I really enjoy freehands, and plasma is fun too. It's time for another update, albeit a minor one. I made some accessories for Lieutenant Suillus.

Argh! I’m torn between loving the mini diorama of it as is and thinking a ladder and chainsword porter would have been as effective and also a playable model.

I love this so much. It's maddeningly brilliant.

The trooper about to vaporise the beetle made me actually laugh. Like, i've never seen anyone so concerned about being menaced by nothing.

Keep up the stellar work, mate!

Pommander Cask your ability to tell a story with your minis is brilliant. Wonderful work on the bases and that freehand makes me jealous.

Nice company commander! Are all the all mushrooms and plants on the bases greenstuff sculpted?

You’re too kind! Actually, Chaotic, I was thinking of a chainsword porter. The humble servant would bring forth the chainsword upon a red velvet pillow. I might still do it. Snrub, I’m glad you like the beetle! We’re lucky those soldiers killed it, else it might have chewed off a cable or something. And Yorkright, thanks! Bschwi1, I made the plants and the big mushroom out of greenstuff, but the smaller mushrooms are actually filed-down sprue plastic (one part for the stalk and one for the cap).

For this update, I finished the Missile Launcher Team you saw in December. I added a little tree stump and some roots.



Here it is, painted!

awesome
especially the ladder for the leader

Ha! Genius Gobbo Launcher!

No idea why anyone would have that tall a missile launcher (it's clearly quite a lot taller than standard issue!), but the model is brilliant and as always you've done a great job painting it. Damn those markings are clean!

Woo! The missile launcher looks great. I'd hate to see how far he flies when it's fired

Thanks, Not Online, Gobert, McMattila and Turtles! There might be some problems with recoil when they fire, yes. Speaking of which, I have another Missile Launcher Team for you.



As you can see, these cunning guardsmen have taken shelter under a little rock formation. The place smells strangely and there's a lot of bones everywhere, but otherwise it's an excellent hideout. One thing they can't understand, though, is why someone has left a warning sign outside.

Building this thing was rather time-consuming, and I had to do it in steps. Painting it was fun though, except for the sign! I repainted it several times and seriously considered using decals or something.

Is it strictly-speaking the best tactical sense to put a Hazard sign next to your camo dug-out?

I mean, it's a beautiful mini/diorama, but minus several million for good-thinking.

Also, kudos on creating a military force who would have mushrooms marked on their maps.

Excellent! I thought that signpost was a decal at first.

I'd hate to think about the after-effects of firing that missile launcher in a confined space like that.

The project is a really fun one, but the paint jobs just brings it all to the next level.

This continues to be brilliant insanity. Keep up the awesome work!

The blowback out the back of the rocket launcher is gonna make that one, uh, interesting firing position!

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
The blowback out the back of the rocket launcher is gonna make that one, uh, interesting firing position!

Such is the bravery and self sacrifice of this fine body of men

So much imagination and fun going into this project, I'm blown away! Your minis are an absolute joy to check out, though I couldn't love anything more than the guy standing on his buddy's shoulders to fire a rocket, and then, bam, to grots hiding in a hole. Hobby perfection!

Thanks for your interesting comments! Actually, the sign was there when they came, Excommunicatus! They didn't know where to put it. Also, as you rightly point out, Snrub and Gwyn, the firing position is not entirely safe. I can only deplore the guardsmen's lack of experience. They are braver than they know, just like Turtles says. Finally, thanks a lot, Tarar2d2, Youwashock and Posermcbogus.

I have a third Missile Launcher Team in the making, but first, it's time for a little diversion...Trogryns!

Trogryns are a rare abhuman strain, which are virtually unknown to the Imperium at large. No one has bothered to analyze them genetically, but their phenotype resembles that Homo sapiens gigantus. Like Homo sapiens gigantus, they are very strong but rather limited intellectually. They have found a place in the ranks of the 414th Cadian, mainly due to their innate ability to find mushrooms. Unfortunately, they are very gluttonous, and tend to eat what they find. Here is a sneak peek of some Trogryns.

There's more character in that one mini than some entire ranges GW sells.

Stupendous. Can't wait to see those guys finished.

Thank you, Excommunicatus and Youwashock! I finished the first Trogryn, finally. Painting something this size was harder than I thought. Thinking of it as a proof of concept didn't help either, I felt like every little edge had to be uniformly highlighted (not sure if I managed to, but still). Now I want to paint something small and flat, like a stone.



Since he's a hungry creature he always keeps snacks on hand (the mushroom is not for him though). Also, his green skin is so tremendously thick that he doesn't need armour, which is fortunate because a tank track codpiece wouldn't suit him very well. There's a little snail too, that I recovered from an old Bretonnian Man-at-Arms. I experimented a bit with glossy varnish to produce a snail trail, but it doesn't show much. I hope you enjoy!

I stand by my earlier assessment. Freakin' awesome.

That snail is lovely. I like the fleshy highlights on the nose and lips, they help draw the eye to the face. I've really been enjoying the whimsy on display in this thread!

Big lad is great, properly leathery green skin. Love the little details.

Some more nice creative Heavy Weapon Teams there Pomander Cask.

Cheers,

CB

The Trogryn is great. It is both impressive as a kitbash and whimiscal.

Thanks Youwashock, Qui Hotep, Salvage and Hamster! I'm glad you like the Trogryn. Also thanks Brown, you encourage me to continue with the Heavy Weapon Teams. Speaking of which...



Here you see Missile Launcher Team 3, uncorking a bottle of Cabernet Proculard. My original plan was to tie the two other teams together with a modest-looking build, but then I found the little bottle and things got out of hand. We'll see how this turns out.

I also finished the last, diminutive guardsman for my Infantry Squad. Can you spot him?

The trogryn is amazing! And i think you went the right route with the team, sure the drink might impact their aim, but look how happy they are!

 Pomander Cask wrote:

I also finished the last, diminutive guardsman for my Infantry Squad. Can you spot him?

That Tau fellow in the rear rank?

CB

Thanks Turtles, I'm glad you value their happiness. Also good thinking, Brown, but the Tau fellow is from November actually. The new one is second from the left, back row.

I've been painting diligently since last update, and finished the Missile Launcher Team today. It was fun to paint, but I tried to match the style of the other two, which was a bit of a challenge. I plan to use them as a squad, though, so I thought it was important.

The pictures also look a bit different because I've borrowed a camera. I hope you like it, I'm quite happy with it myself.



I don't know how interesting this is to you, but I wrote a list of 'ingredients' for this one. Make your own and season as needed!

- Missile Launcher from the regular Cadian kit (I elongated the stand with a random plastic stick, can't remember where I got it).
- Grots from regular Stabbas/Shootas kit.
- Right arms from the Heavy Weapons and Shock Troops kits, as expected, slightly rasped-down.
- Upper left arm from the Command Squad kit (the chainsword arm), with the hand from the Heavy Weapons kit (the one holding binoculars).
- Lower left arm from the Heavy Weapons kit, with the hand from the Command Squad kit (the chainsword arm again).
- Wine bottle from the Freeguild Guard / Empire State Troops sprue.
- Custom-made wine glass with the bowl from the backside of a vox caster speaker and the foot from snipped-off sprue parts (the medium-sized cylinders).
- Mushroom from snipped-off sprue parts (the medium sized cylinders again).

This warband/army just keeps on going from victory to victory, at least modelling/painting-wise Loving the Trogryn and the new tipsy ML team (all of them, really)! And the squad looks really good together.

The photography looks good, nice clean white background. I'd suggest making the aperture smaller though (by increasing the f-value), to get more depth of field, i.e. less blur.

It's nice to know where to wine bottle comes from, i might need something like that for my own projects someday!

This whimsy continues! I expected them to be drinking some rotgut but the red wine actually lends them a bit of class.

This army is one of the best going at the moment, without a doubt.

The Trogryn is a wonder idea, and beautifully executed too!
The 2nd missile team is also a fantastic piece. The random missile just lying in the dirt is a bit suss though. Not sure i'd trust that!

As ever people's imaginations for this game amaze me, wonderful work and outside the box modelling there. Bravo.

Instantly one of the coolest blogs , I have seen.

So their aim is improved by the libations?

Cheers,

CB

mcmattila wrote:This warband/army just keeps on going from victory to victory, at least modelling/painting-wise Loving the Trogryn and the new tipsy ML team (all of them, really)! And the squad looks really good together.
The photography looks good, nice clean white background. I'd suggest making the aperture smaller though (by increasing the f-value), to get more depth of field, i.e. less blur.

Thanks a lot! They haven't been tried on the field of battle so far, but maybe this weekend! Changing the aperture sounds good, I'm so new to real cameras that I think everything looks great.

amazingturtles wrote:It's nice to know where to wine bottle comes from, i might need something like that for my own projects someday!

Do it! There's only one bottle per 10 Freeguild Guard though.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:This whimsy continues! I expected them to be drinking some rotgut but the red wine actually lends them a bit of class.

The Astra Telepathica keeps lots of classy beverages in their cellars actually. It's an employee benefit.

Snrub wrote:This army is one of the best going at the moment, without a doubt.
The Trogryn is a wonder idea, and beautifully executed too!
The 2nd missile team is also a fantastic piece. The random missile just lying in the dirt is a bit suss though. Not sure i'd trust that!

Thanks! They're a bit careless with the missiles, admittedly.

Thousandeyes wrote:As ever people's imaginations for this game amaze me, wonderful work and outside the box modelling there. Bravo.

Marxist artist wrote:Instantly one of the coolest blogs , I have seen.

Thanks a lot guys!

Captain Brown wrote:So their aim is improved by the libations?

Definitely, initially, yes.

First of all, I'd like to present a new squad member. Grumpy old Pte Frank has served the 414th Regiment longer than anyone can remember. He knows a lot of things but is not particularly brave. During missions he often lags behind his fellow soldiers due to severe arthritis, which means that he usually arrives too late for fighting any enemies his squad might encounter. Frank has both supported and undermined mutinies over the years, but neither his fellow soldiers nor his commissars are aware of this.



Now for the current project, I'm working on a second sentinel, this time a bit modified. Sentinels are pivotal to secure mushroom hunting. Agaricus and his fellows at the Adeptus Astra Telepathica often send the 414th Regiment to heavily forested planets, where interesting specimens might be found. They have a habit of drastically miscalculating risk-benefit ratios, so the soldiers of the 414th Regiment find themselves fighting all sorts of fantastical creatures, with limited return in terms of mushrooms. During these missions, the soldiers rely on bipedal walkers for heavy support, since the terrain is too rough for tanks. Here is a sneak peek!



I'll make a list of ingredients again, hope you enjoy!
- Fanatics: Head
- Hellions: Hand/staff
- Cadian Command Squad: Laurel insignia
- Skitarii Rangers: Arms
- Sentinel: The rest

Here I am thinking your shoulder pads are crazy good freehand and you drop this sentinel nose on us!

And as they say; youth and enthusiasm are no match for old age and cunning!

Pomander Cask,

Nice work.

Looking for to the Sentinel.

Cheers,

CB

Old man Frank is adorable.

I now want one too

ChaoticMind wrote:Here I am thinking your shoulder pads are crazy good freehand and you drop this sentinel nose on us! And as they say; youth and enthusiasm are no match for old age and cunning!

Captain Brown wrote:Pomander Cask, Nice work. Looking for to the Sentinel. Cheers, CB

Not Online!!! wrote:Old man Frank is adorable. I now want one too

Thanks a lot! The sentinel is on its way. The Mushroom Hunters faced combat last weekend, which was great fun. My friend's vicious genestealers used all sorts of cunning strategies, but to no avail! The Mushroom Hunters made advantage of their superior firepower and blasted the misled miners to pieces. We only had time for half a game, but still.

I'm quite happy about Psychic Awakening: Greater Good, because it allows custom regiments. The Mushroom Hunters were always a bit un-Cadian, and I think the combination of Wilderness Survivors and Disciplined Shooters describes them better. The new book also introduces Tank Aces, and I like the idea.

This is the highly-decorated tank commander Percival Panellus, renowned support ace. He leads the 414th Regiment's small but important armoured support division. His vehicle will be introduced soon.

It's nice to hear that the mushroom hunters won the day! Well, half the day at least.

I like that he's holding up the card just in case anyone needs reminding that he is, in fact, an ace.

Going through the pages it's amazing what detail goes into your conversions and their paint jobs! And I'm happy that they didn't let you down on the battlefield and stopped the uprising of the filthy xenos And I have to thank you and go back to my empire state troopers sprues, didn't know, there was a bottle on there, need to put that on a mini in the near future.

amazingturtles wrote:It's nice to hear that the mushroom hunters won the day! Well, half the day at least. I like that he's holding up the card just in case anyone needs reminding that he is, in fact, an ace.

Yeah you have to be overexplicit in the 41st millennium.

Viterbi wrote:Going through the pages it's amazing what detail goes into your conversions and their paint jobs! And I'm happy that they didn't let you down on the battlefield and stopped the uprising of the filthy xenos And I have to thank you and go back to my empire state troopers sprues, didn't know, there was a bottle on there, need to put that on a mini in the near future.

Thanks a lot mate! I'm happy to help, the old fantasy sprues are full of interesting parts.

It's time for another update! This thread is falling behind my Instagram account at the moment, but I'll try to remedy this over the next week. First off, the second sentinel!



If you read the post from February 25th, you've already seen the cockpit and the list of components. Here's an updated version, covering the whole model.

- Fanatics: Head
- Hellions: Hand/staff
- Cadian Command Squad: Laurel insignia
- Skitarii Rangers: Arms
- Carved/filed-down sprue frames: Mushrooms
- Men-at-arms: The snail
- Sentinel: The rest

Enjoy and stay safe!

Oh no oh no! The poor snail! I shall mourn it.

He is one maniacal looking sentinel pilot and i like it.

Maybe the snail has an adamantine shell and the walker is moments away from tripping over it? Either way, an amazing piece.

Another winning model, the insignia with the mushroom on the side is fantastic! It looks like a printed piece, awesome freehand.

Love the sentinel! Excellent glow effect on the searchlight, how did you do it? Also want to echo how great the freehand looks.

Pomander Cask,

Nice work.

Cheers,

CB

That freehand is amazing, most transfers look worse

amazingturtles wrote:Oh no oh no! The poor snail! I shall mourn it. He is one maniacal looking sentinel pilot and i like it.

youwashock wrote:Maybe the snail has an adamantine shell and the walker is moments away from tripping over it? Either way, an amazing piece.

The snail is dead, sorry! Nothing can stop the sentinel. Also, thanks.

gobert wrote:Another winning model, the insignia with the mushroom on the side is fantastic! It looks like a printed piece, awesome freehand.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Love the sentinel! Excellent glow effect on the searchlight, how did you do it? Also want to echo how great the freehand looks.

Captain Brown wrote:Pomander Cask, Nice work. Cheers, CB

Viterbi wrote:That freehand is amazing, most transfers look worse

Thanks a lot people, I'm glad you like the freehand. Painting mushrooms is nice, you can stylise them but they're still recognisable. I was a bit lucky with the searchlight, first I made a gradient upwards-downwards and highlighted the edges sort of half-heartedly, but then I threw Reikland Fleshshade over it and all the edges sorted themselves out. This doesn't usually happen when I use shades. I used one or two layers of 'Ardcoat too.

It's update time again! As promised, I will try to catch up with my Instagram account. There's quite a few pictures, so I can't post everything at once. First off, I have a little italic section.

Most Imperial denizens have heard about the 133rd Lambdan Lions, and their long-standing affiliation with the Cult Mechanicus. Indeed, the Lambdan Lions are an important cog in the Cult’s machinery. Over the last two millenia, they have extracted countless techno-artefacts, from worlds where the servo-fingers of the Omnissah do not reach.

Little is known, however, about the next regiment in order: The 134th Lactarian Lions. They are a not a secret organization, only insignificant to the Imperium at large. Anyone can read about them at the Office of Records, Unclassified Section. The 134th Regiment was formed three hundred years ago, out of surplus recruits from the 133rd Regiment, who had barely begun their training at the Moons of Mezoa. The new masters were, as you might have guessed, the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. The purpose was not to aid the enormous recruitment apparatus (i.e. the Black Ships), but to secure targets of interests, such as psychic artefacts and mobile warp gates. Since its formation, the 134th Regiment has not been overly successful in these matters, except for one time when it recaptured the Grandmaster’s Force Stave from a Drukhari raiding company. Now it seems the Adeptus Astra Telepathica has a new mission for the 134th Regiment.

Here we have the first representation of the Lactarian Lions, a modified Valkyrie. I went with the maximalistic approach again, and painted the inside walls. The passengers got lots of interesting buttons to press, and also lockers with extra parachutes and extra ammunition.



To complicate things further, I decided the passengers needed something to sit on. I took two pieces from the tank kit, meant as guard tracks, and made a little bench. Then I added handles from the taurux kit, and attached the drawbridge with ropes from the tank kit.



I hope you like it, there's more to come!

Those pipes look perfect! I should redo my ribbed piping to resemble yours.

That’s some serious maximalism! Great job detailing all those cables and fixtures. Cool idea to have the ramp down, will the bird be mid flight or landed?

So many wonderful buttons! I'd take a ride in that ship just for that

Anyone who paints their vessel interiors deserves special commendation! I love when they have interior detail - you've done it justice here. So many fun buttons to push, I'm sure the little plastic men will appreciate it!

Fantastic project! Wonderful minis, and a fun story. Heresy approved

Oh my word, such detail I'm often not as diligent with the stuff that can be seen clearly on first glance, let alone the interior of anything

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Those pipes look perfect! I should redo my ribbed piping to resemble yours.

Thanks mate, ribbed piping sounds good too!

gobert wrote:That’s some serious maximalism! Great job detailing all those cables and fixtures. Cool idea to have the ramp down, will the bird be mid flight or landed?

It will fly around with the ramp down! A bit draughty in full speed, admittedly. The idea is that it hovers, though, and the troopers have just jumped off.

amazingturtles wrote:So many wonderful buttons! I'd take a ride in that ship just for that

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Anyone who paints their vessel interiors deserves special commendation! I love when they have interior detail - you've done it justice here. So many fun buttons to push, I'm sure the little plastic men will appreciate it!

Thanks, I hope they will like them!

monkeytroll wrote:Fantastic project! Wonderful minis, and a fun story. Heresy approved

Viterbi wrote:Oh my word, such detail I'm often not as diligent with the stuff that can be seen clearly on first glance, let alone the interior of anything

Ah, thanks a lot!

This time we will look at the cockpit. I painted it separately. Again, there's lots of buttons, also a radar screen and some meters. Only the pilot knows what the chiselled bar chart means.



I painted the other parts of the Valkyrie's nose separately too, and here's how it looks assembled. The lions are from the taurux kit.



I hope you like it, there's more to come!

Really lovely work on the Valkyrie Pomander Cask.

I cannot wait for the finished model, and exalt worthy post I am certain.

Cheers,

CB

Nifty work, and the lions look great on it. I bet the chart is just there for the pilot to confuse people with.

Lovely work, and the lions are a great touch.

Captain Brown wrote:Really lovely work on the Valkyrie Pomander Cask. I cannot wait for the finished model, and exalt worthy post I am certain. Cheers, CB

amazingturtles wrote:Nifty work, and the lions look great on it. I bet the chart is just there for the pilot to confuse people with.

monkeytroll wrote:Lovely work, and the lions are a great touch.

Thanks a lot! It's taking longer than I expected to finish it, but I'm getting there.

Now for the Valkyrie's base. I've always wanted to try out water textures, so I thought this was a good time. There's a painting by John Bauer, a Swedish artist of the early 20th century, called Tuvstarr gazes into the water (link). I like it a lot. The idea was to capture some of that fairytale feeling for the base, with a little forest pond. The process turned out to be quite lengthy but pleasant all the same. First I made a made a ring of stones out of milliput. I hadn't used milliput before, but it was good for making stones (I guess any material would be good for that). Then I added roots and moss out of greenstuff. Then I added sand. Finally I added my usual sprue-part mushroom and some reeds, also made out of cut-down sprue parts, plus a skull (always).



Painting this was quite fun. I was anxious that the colours would leak into the water texture, so I used plenty of Munitorum Varnish and then some extra 'Ard Coat in the recesses. Then I poured in the water texture, one called Vallejo's Still Water (link). It cracked a little at first, but the next two layers filled out the cracks mostly. I also added some lily pads out of milliput, between the second and third layer. Here is the end result!

Oh...wow...

That's fantastic. All about the lily pads.

Yeah....that's some lovely work, very natural.

That's a beautiful base!

Lovely base, if you squint your eyes a bit you can definitely see fairies flying over that pond.

That is gorgeous, and the lily pads just make it complete!

You definitely captured the fairy-tale look! Well done on the sculpting, the roots themselves look naturalistic but are arrayed in a way that makes a nice fantastical little scene.

Cracking base you’ve concocted Pomander. You can really see the inspiration in all of it. It’s really going to be a centre piece model when it’s done. Awesome

So many cool models since I've last stopped by here! The Valkyrie and its base are coming along brilliantly. And the second Sentinel is lovely! The first one was good as well, but the new one is more "Mushroom Hunter" with the visible pilot. I like the choice of parts for the pilot too, an armored commander in an armored vehicle.

Very nice Pomander Cask.

Water effect looks great and the lily pads were a nice touch.

Cheers,

CB

youwashock wrote:Oh...wow...That's fantastic. All about the lily pads.

monkeytroll wrote:Yeah....that's some lovely work, very natural.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:That's a beautiful base!

Viterbi wrote:Lovely base, if you squint your eyes a bit you can definitely see fairies flying over that pond.

amazingturtles wrote:That is gorgeous, and the lily pads just make it complete!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:You definitely captured the fairy-tale look! Well done on the sculpting, the roots themselves look naturalistic but are arrayed in a way that makes a nice fantastical little scene.

gobert wrote:Cracking base you’ve concocted Pomander. You can really see the inspiration in all of it. It’s really going to be a centre piece model when it’s done. Awesome

Captain Brown wrote:Very nice Pomander Cask. Water effect looks great and the lily pads were a nice touch. Cheers, CB

Thanks a lot, you're too kind! I'm glad you like the lily pads. I made them in a sort of haphazard way and didn't know how they would look in the water, but I think they turned out natural enough.

mcmattila wrote:So many cool models since I've last stopped by here! The Valkyrie and its base are coming along brilliantly. And the second Sentinel is lovely! The first one was good as well, but the new one is more "Mushroom Hunter" with the visible pilot. I like the choice of parts for the pilot too, an armored commander in an armored vehicle.

Thanks mate, I really enjoyed building and painting that second sentinel. Frenzied goblins are the most convincing mushroom hunters, in my opinion.

Speaking of frenzy, I finished the Valkyrie today. Highlighting the edges was driving me mad, especially since I discovered new ones all the time, and had to do them all in the same compulsive manner. If I ever paint another Valkyrie I will have to use dry-brushing or contrast colour to speed things up. Anyway, here it is!



It looks best from this view, I think. I painted the sides too, but they're awfully hard to photograph with the wings in place. The Valkyrie brings a multi-laser, multiple rocket pods and double bolters. You can see the bolters poking out of the side walls. They're actually from the heavy weapons kit. I filed them down and glued them to the walls, so as not to conceal the interior so much. The result is quite neat, but again, hard to photograph. Apart from the interior and the cockpit, I probably spent most time on the wings. Here is a close-up.



There, some new mushroom hunting iconography! I hope you like it.

It's great to see the inside of a cockpit painted. Your detail work on the whole project is exceptional. The mushroom glyph is great. The little details make all the difference on a project like that. I hope to see more in the future.

I love it! I like that it's stylized but immediately recognizable.

Congrats on finishing the Valkyrie, such a fresh color scheme and the edge highlighting is my personal highlight on it!

Valkyrie looks fantastic! And your freehand iconography is outstanding as per usual. The edge highlights were certainly worth the effort, did you really edge all of the rivet holes too?

Very nice

Great colour choice.

Nice work Pomander Cask.

Always great to get a large model finished.

Cheers,

CB

Pointer5 wrote:It's great to see the inside of a cockpit painted. Your detail work on the whole project is exceptional. The mushroom glyph is great. The little details make all the difference on a project like that. I hope to see more in the future.

amazingturtles wrote:I love it! I like that it's stylized but immediately recognizable.

Viterbi wrote:Congrats on finishing the Valkyrie, such a fresh color scheme and the edge highlighting is my personal highlight on it!

monkeytroll wrote:Very nice Great colour choice.

gobert wrote:Valkyrie looks fantastic! And your freehand iconography is outstanding as per usual. The edge highlights were certainly worth the effort, did you really edge all of the rivet holes too?

Thanks a lot everyone! I did edge all the rivet holes, at least on the upper side. It was a bit frustrating, yes.

 Captain Brown wrote:
Nice work Pomander Cask. Always great to get a large model finished. Cheers, CB

Thank you CB, I haven't finished something this large before, it's a relief for sure.

Anyway, now I can paint small things again! Here we have two new mushroom hunters, the first one quite ordinary. I gave him extra pouches (originally for Space Marines, I think) and added some mushrooms. They're meant to look like penny buns, Boletus edulis.



The second one is another trogryn! I painted him faster than the first one, in a more happy-go-lucky way. The end result was quite different.



I'm not sure if you remember, but I made a post about the trogryns in January. I had to use greenstuff to make muscular-looking necks, otherwise the combination of troggoth heads and bullgryn bodies was an easy matter (from a technical point of view, not sure about the aesthetic and/or biological aspects). Much later, I added the greenstuff chanterelles. The bird change was not intentional. I dropped the whole thing on the floor during painting, and the original nestling's beak broke. Luckily I had the other bird carved-off and ready, since I had already almost added it to the valkyrie base. In the end I think the bigger bird made more sense.

I hope you like it!

I was curious how different the first trogryn looked, so paged back a few ...

 Pomander Cask wrote:

... and while I can see the technical differences, I don't think you taking a less stressful approach hurt the result any I really enjoy the whimsy of the new lad, mama bird and all. I think I prefer that skin tone, in fact.

Really cool pair of Trogryns. I agree with Boss Salvage that the new skin tone is great. Love the cool little additions this Army gets, the snack mushroom being my favourite on this latest guy!

Those Bullgryn conversions are ace, love the carrot on the older one

Aw, birdie!

I mean the rest is really impressive too

but also bird!

Boss Salvage wrote:I was curious how different the first trogryn looked, so paged back a few ... and while I can see the technical differences, I don't think you taking a less stressful approach hurt the result any I really enjoy the whimsy of the new lad, mama bird and all. I think I prefer that skin tone, in fact.

gobert wrote:Really cool pair of Trogryns. I agree with Boss Salvage that the new skin tone is great. Love the cool little additions this Army gets, the snack mushroom being my favourite on this latest guy!

Viterbi wrote:Those Bullgryn conversions are ace, love the carrot on the older one

amazingturtles wrote:Aw, birdie! I mean the rest is really impressive too ... but also bird!

Great to hear, you're always supportive of my whims! I really enjoy figuring out suitable snacks for them, hopefully the last trogryn will have even more snacks (he's the bone'ead after all).

I've already said it, but painting smaller models is so rewarding! The current project is to paint up some unfinished guardsmen, more specifically the human subset. I'm aiming for a complete 10-man squad, including the lascannon I made earlier. My pool of human guardsmen is a bit heterogenous, since I assembled some of them late last summer and some during late autumn, so the bases won't match really. I'm also making it even worse by updating some of the bases to my current likings. (By the way, this focus on old models relates to covid-19. I've almost run out of plastic glue and it seems hard to get another bottle during the epidemic.)

Here is one of the new guardsmen. Be careful, the specimen by his right foot is a destroying angel, not a white mushroom! One cap is enough to kill a man, even give a primaris slight stomach ache.



Here is another one, standing beside a more exotic specimen. It might be a chubby version of Parasola auricoma, but who knows. The toxic effects on humans and primaris remain to be studied.



I'm not sure if it shows, but the last one was made with a better brush! I finally invested in a W&N Series 7 Kolinsky Brush. It's great. I hope I don't ruin it.

The last guardsman for today isn't finished yet, but I figured his base was worth a little WIP shot. I finally found a use for one of the greenstuff beetles I made earlier, and had it poking out of a hole in the ground. Originally I had only one mushroom, but it looked so phallic on its own that I had to add another one as a diversion. The white thing (milliput) is supposed to be moss. It's my latest idea, that moss is flat. It worked okay on the valkyrie base, or what do you think?

I know what you mean about glue, i've got an ok store left of it but it doesn't seem anywhere to be found right now

The beetle looks great! And looking at the valkyrie base, i think the moss will work like that

I like how the grenade launcher has a stack of hand grenades too! You never know when you’ll need a spare grenade I suppose.

The eyes on the humans are really well done, they look like they’re looking down the barrel. Cool that your giving them mushrooms too, even if they can’t eat them

I have not seen someone do a bandolier of grenades before...a neat idea.

Cheers,

CB

Makes me feel guilty with my "git it dun" attitude with bases, the entire model sees a strong attention to detail... in some cases a full narrative.

amazingturtles wrote:I know what you mean about glue, i've got an ok store left of it but it doesn't seem anywhere to be found right now. The beetle looks great! And looking at the valkyrie base, i think the moss will work like that

Yes it's a shame about the glue, let's hope they open up soon. The needle of my bottle isn't working but I still have some glue left in the bottom that I can pour out in unpredictable amounts.

gobert wrote:I like how the grenade launcher has a stack of hand grenades too! You never know when you’ll need a spare grenade I suppose. The eyes on the humans are really well done, they look like they’re looking down the barrel. Cool that your giving them mushrooms too, even if they can’t eat them

Captain Brown wrote:I have not seen someone do a bandolier of grenades before...a neat idea. Cheers, CB

Thanks, I actually thought of the grenades as ammo for the launcher, but I guess they wouldn't have pull rings then. My knowledge of modern weapons is lacking, clearly.

Talizvar wrote:Makes me feel guilty with my "git it dun" attitude with bases, the entire model sees a strong attention to detail... in some cases a full narrative.

Don't! I think the real pros have plain bases, because it brings out the model more. Anyway, I can't keep myself from tinkering with them, it's so fun.

I painted up the grenade launcher, and here he is!



As you can see, he's one grumpy-looking guardsman. It's hard work, launching grenades in the forest all day, but someone's got to do it! The trajectories become a bit unpredictable with all the trees around, so his comrades seldom know where to position themselves, on the other hand the enemy doesn't know either.

Looking good as usual - but the front on faces are something else - looking very suitably grizzled.

I find a thin piece of wire shoved down a glue bottle needle can clear it (better if you can detach it first). If the needle is metal, you can also (carefully!) apply heat to the end. Might get you back on track sans new supplies.

Probably not a lot of people will devote such detail to a standard guard trooper, but it really shows here, excellent work!

Agreed, love that trooper's face. Fantastic detail wok all around. The human troopers can't feel like they're getting neglected - everyone benefits from your attention to detail!

Just scrolled through the pages. And this is awesome! What a nice army you're building here, keep up the fantastic work mate

Pomander Cask,

Another nice addition.

Cheers,

CB

He is a delightful grump. I hope that blowing up a few trees brings him comfort at least

I love everything about this and it could only be improved if you wrote some seriously homo-erotic fluff that goes off on an extended monologue about the different types of mushrooms right in the middle of the story for no good reason.

Oh man, I blinked and this blog exploded with awesome. The Valk is amazing, I love your Trogryns, and the execution on your human Guardsmen is top-notch. Well done all around. Now I need to go back and see exactly how many pages I snoozed on... nothing here should be missed.

Arakasi wrote:Looking good as usual - but the front on faces are something else - looking very suitably grizzled. I find a thin piece of wire shoved down a glue bottle needle can clear it (better if you can detach it first). If the needle is metal, you can also (carefully!) apply heat to the end. Might get you back on track sans new supplies.

Thanks, good tip! My problem was that the glue didn't run through the needle unless it was in exactly the right spot, since the amount was so small. Anyway, I got a new bottle today!

Viterbi wrote:Probably not a lot of people will devote such detail to a standard guard trooper, but it really shows here, excellent work!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Agreed, love that trooper's face. Fantastic detail wok all around. The human troopers can't feel like they're getting neglected - everyone benefits from your attention to detail!

Honingtomaten wrote:Just scrolled through the pages. And this is awesome! What a nice army you're building here, keep up the fantastic work mate

Captain Brown wrote:Pomander Cask, Another nice addition. Cheers, CB

Thanks a lot guys!

amazingturtles wrote:He is a delightful grump. I hope that blowing up a few trees brings him comfort at least

I'm sure it will, wood is more interesting to blow up than other materials.

Excommunicatus wrote:I love everything about this and it could only be improved if you wrote some seriously homo-erotic fluff that goes off on an extended monologue about the different types of mushrooms right in the middle of the story for no good reason.

Haha, you never know. Maybe someday I'll write about the 32nd Phallic Fungi, Ordo Temptatious.

MacPhail wrote:Oh man, I blinked and this blog exploded with awesome. The Valk is amazing, I love your Trogryns, and the execution on your human Guardsmen is top-notch. Well done all around. Now I need to go back and see exactly how many pages I snoozed on... nothing here should be missed.

Thanks a lot mate!

I have two conversions for today's update! The first one is a stand-in astropath. He has a telepathica stave (terrible choice apparently) and some scrolls.



As you can see, there's also a suspicious-looking mushroom at the front! This is indeed a servo-shroom, or spy agaric as the soldier's call it. I added a laspistol, otherwise it’s parts from the celestial hurricanum kit, plus a modified gas mask and a gun scope for the mushroom.

The next conversion was more time-consuming. I call it the Leman Russula Battle Tank! Does it have T8, W12 and Sv3+? I think so, yes. At least it has a battle cannon and a heavy bolter.



I sacrificed a taurox kit in the process, but hope to make another mini tank out of the remaining parts, and maybe a bunker too. For the roof, I cut off the rear part of the taurox side walls, and fitted them together (lots of shaving and filing). Then I used a left-over movement tray to make a support frame. The bumper is actually a long sprue stick, held up by shock absorbers from the taurox underseal, with missile launcher parts glued to it. I took the heavy bolter from the valkyrie kit, and also added a little vent from the sentinel kit, otherwise it should be taurox parts only.

Cheers!

The chibi-russ is brilliant! Grot tanks, eat your heart out.

I think once painted the Russula concept will really shine. Saw your comments on Insta - it makes sense something of this size fighting in heavily forested areas. A pair of them will be cool!

I’m actually starting to want a taurox now...

Boss Salvage wrote:The chibi-russ is brilliant! Grot tanks, eat your heart out.

Ragsta wrote:I think once painted the Russula concept will really shine. Saw your comments on Insta - it makes sense something of this size fighting in heavily forested areas. A pair of them will be cool!

ChaoticMind wrote:I’m actually starting to want a taurox now...

Thank you! This thread has fallen behind the Instagram account again. I'll start the recovery process by posting the finished versions of the last post's models. First off, the Astropath. I'm thinking of calling him a primaris psyker instead, because of the stave, but then I'm not sure if he has a sufficient amount of cables sticking out of his head.



Now for the Leman Russula! I painted the four parts separately: The base, the tracks/undercarriage, the roof and the turret. Basing a tank is a bit controversial, I know, but this one had a tendency to fall over. Also the compulsive in me wants every model to have forest bases, preferably with mushrooms on.



Enjoy, there's more to come!

I hope you don’t mind me derailing the thread slightly, but I’ve started to convert a squad of not-ratlings insipired by your blog.



Still needs painting. Sorry again for the derail!

I can't begin to express my delight at the spy agaric. As for the cables... maybe he has some internal ones!

I think the base on the baby tank is the right choice. While a mushroom tank suddenly falling over in the middle of battle might be appropriate thematically, it would get a bit annoying in practice.

 amazingturtles wrote:
I can't begin to express my delight at the spy agaric. As for the cables... maybe he has some internal ones!

I think the base on the baby tank is the right choice. While a mushroom tank suddenly falling over in the middle of battle might be appropriate thematically, it would get a bit annoying in practice.

Hee hee - "and the Leman Russ will move over here - CLUNK - okay, and then it'll move over to this crater for the cover and - CLUNK"

I like the Astropath/Primaris. I think you could run him as either or both! Also loving the baby tank forest base.

DalekCheese wrote:I hope you don’t mind me derailing the thread slightly, but I’ve started to convert a squad of not-ratlings insipired by your blog. [IMAGE OF CUTE] Still needs painting. Sorry again for the derail!

Of course I don't mind, it's lovely!

amazingturtles wrote:I can't begin to express my delight at the spy agaric. As for the cables... maybe he has some internal ones! I think the base on the baby tank is the right choice. While a mushroom tank suddenly falling over in the middle of battle might be appropriate thematically, it would get a bit annoying in practice.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Hee hee - "and the Leman Russ will move over here - CLUNK - okay, and then it'll move over to this crater for the cover and - CLUNK" I like the Astropath/Primaris. I think you could run him as either or both! Also loving the baby tank forest base.

Thanks, you're always a great support! I will continue with bases for tanks, I think, at least for smaller ones. Also internal cables makes a lot of sense, maybe the excess warp energy can be led away to the stomach, like a hydrocephalus shunt system.

I'll press on with another update, because this thread is not yet in line with the Instagram account. The following project is actually three weeks old, but I didn't want to post it without a proper description. Here we have the Grillhound, the second offspring of my taurux kit.



It plays as a hellhound, with an inferno cannon and a heavy flamer. The weapons look similar, but the one with an additional hose gets +8" range, +D6 attacks and +1 strength. Clearly! The main structure is built around the rear part of the taurox roof, turned around, and the smaller pair of tracks. The pointy thing between the lamps is actually the stand for the missile launcher (I think?) with some slight modifications at the front. The front wall is a left-over movement tray, with the fleur-de-lis from the grill carefully cut off and attached to it. A few things are taken from other kits; The heavy flamers are from sentinel kits, the side panels are from heavy weapons kit, and the barrel is from the basilisk kit. I also made some cables and hoses out of milliput, and put together an engine with pipes from the taurox kit, track guards from the basilisk kit and meters from the sentinel kit (the plasma cannon).

And here we have it, the painted version!



So how does it help in hunting mushrooms, you wonder? Apart from aiding in their preparation (champignons flambées etc) the grillhound helps to harvest them, or rather protect those who do. Smaller mushroom hunting expeditions often require spread-out infantry lines, advancing slowly through the forest, while searching for interesting specimens. If the line is obstructed by a nest of dug-in enemies, the grillhound can relocate quickly and burn them out with its promethium-fuelled flame throwers. This carries a risk of course. In fact most of the expeditions that include the grillhound also involve massive wildfires.

Enjoy, and happy mushroom hunting!

Brilliant work! You have to wonder why Dakka doesn’t have the option to exalt twice though...

the amount of exaltation required would instantly promote him into a Daemonprince.
That's why dalek.

Not that it'd be undeserved

Great imagination on your conversions Pomander Cask.

Cheers,

CB

It's nice to see your conversions again, after seeing them on Instagram already (if you're on there, follow him!)

Russula and Grillhound are excellent, the conversions fit brilliantly into the theme, and the paintings are lovely. Also, big shout out for the spy agaric

DalekCheese wrote:Brilliant work! You have to wonder why Dakka doesn’t have the option to exalt twice though...

Not Online!!! wrote:the amount of exaltation required would instantly promote him into a Daemonprince. That's why dalek. Not that it'd be undeserved

Captain Brown wrote:Great imagination on your conversions Pomander Cask. Cheers, CB

Viterbi wrote:It's nice to see your conversions again, after seeing them on Instagram already (if you're on there, follow him!)

monkeytroll wrote:Russula and Grillhound are excellent, the conversions fit brilliantly into the theme, and the paintings are lovely. Also, big shout out for the spy agaric

Thanks everyone, you're too kind!

As I've hinted earlier, there are things I haven't posted here yet. In fact there are two scion squads coming up, belonging to the group of former 133rd Lambdan Lions whom the Astra Telepathica deploy alongside the 414th Regiment. I'll skip them for now, but will get back to them later. Their background story is a bit unclear at the moment, and I think you'll like them better when you see them together, as completed squads. This brings us to my latest project, which is completely unrelated to the scions, and very much related to the 414th Regiment. Here is Pe'ter, the self-taught commissar.



As you can see, his skin is rather blue, his non-bionic arm only has four fingers, and his shoes are a bit...outlandish. Then again, who knows how people look on his home planet? He's a completely loyal and ordinary commissar, anyway. Being attached to the unruly 414th Regiment, Pe'ter is a busy man, always interrogating, reporting, executing etc.

This conversion sort of came to me because the tau legs fitted so well. I carved off the nose and one of the left-hand fingers. Then I added a little earpiece, some hair and a bigger sword guard out of greenstuff. All the alterations are visible in the below image, otherwise it's just a regular commissar build.



On a side note, I borrowed the name Pe'ter. Someone made a meme over at reddit, containing a picture of my old tau guardsman (https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdank/comments/gdk0e2/what_could_go_wrong/). Apparently he was called Pe'ter. A friend showed me some days later, and I was surprised to see so many people reflecting about the trooper in my cupboard. Anyway I thought I should borrow the name for my new project, to even things up.

They now fight in melee!


I am done

Love the Grillhound, but as Maxim 23 states: “The company mess and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart”

And if you hadn’t told us I’d have thought Pe’ter’s head was made from an actual T’au’s!

Now that's some inspired modeling. Love it. Love the little tanks, too.

Brilliant commissar. All the subtle little changes are very deftly done.

I mean yeah, all i see here is a completely ordinary commisar, albeit a very well painted one who no doubt keeps his troops well in line!

Never seen a Tau model kitted out that way before.

Cheers,

CB

Really great stuff all around. I love it. And the quality of your conversions and paintjobs is impressive

I'm happy you like the commie'sar! It's been a long time since I last posted here, as my focus has been directed towards the Army of Mud. That thread is awfully under-updated by the way, in fact I have built and painted lots of things for them lately. Anyway, I've got the idea of updating the Mushroom Hunters at the same time, to give them a more unified look and reach 2000 points with the combined armies.

First thing was to change the old grey metal into metallic metal, and add some shadows here and there. It hardly shows at this distance, but here is a picture.



I also painted up the last trogryn! The squad doesn't exactly have a unified look, but they are all green at least.

It's nice to see you're still working on these guys! The trogryn are just perfect. And green is best, or so i have heard

Trogryn rules. Always a good thing when this is updated.

I love that Trogryn! Surely you don't want them looking too unified.

Also happy to cheer on the Feudal Guard of Mud; it would be fun to have a cross-over army shot!

Good work Pomander Cask.

Cheers,

CB

Bloomin awesome mate!