Merry Christmas Git & family and everyone one else who reads the blog! Had a quick scan through this blog and oh my god it's amazing. I will read it properly so it might take awhile keep up the amazing work!

Merry Christmas Git's and family make sure you keep warm with all that snow you have.

Happy Christmas to anyone else ready this as well

Merry Christmas to all of Family Gits, and season's greetings to all who follow this thread....

Amen Gits, here's to another 12,000 in the future

Thanks everyone for your kind wishes. Had a nice evening with Mrs. Git's family, cousins got to open some presents (the rest will wait until tomorrow morning). My screaming headache was finally beaten into submission by some Tylenol (thank God). Successfully fixed Christmas train #2 so the tree is properly accessorized. Kids are in bed... though Thing 2 is so excited he's vibrating. Still have some wrapping to do... but we're in good shape over all. No late night toy assemblies this year. (Yea!)

@graven: Thanks for the pin-up girl, I'll use her for sure. If you see anything else out there you think has potential, please send it my way. I still have 3 large sections of wall to paint and decorate.

Time to do the Christmas eve thing...

Night all,
Gits

Merry Christmas, Gits! Enjoy your wonderful morning and fantastic evening!

Merry Christmas Gits

Go play Santa

Merry Christmas Chowder & RiTides! 2 hours of sleep later....

Great morning, everyone made out like a bandit. While we did stay largely away from 40k presents... I did get a few things that relate directly.



Desperately needed the brushes... the lack of good brushes is what's had me painting walls rather than marines lately. Excited about the brush cleaner/conditioner too. The Sturmtiger will get converted into a grot tank. Really looking forward to that project! Also got a new printer and keyboard which are somewhat gaming related as I'll finally be able to print out new posters for my ADL and print my army lists again. The new keyboard will facilitate posting on dakka.

I guess you could call it a "gaming infrastructure development" Christmas.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
OH, and I snuck out and took a picture of the tree after Santa came... The settings on my camera for taking pics of minis also work for low-light still shots!

Wow. Thats a mighty good looking model, is it already grot tank scale or are you using the bits from it too make them?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
... and nice tree

It's grot tank scale, right out of the box.

The tree is Mrs. Git's personal expression of mental instability. I disavow all knowledge of it or responsibility for it after it's cut & carried into the house.

Merry Christmas Gits! Such a lovely home and family you have!

Those Aegis are coming together really nicely! the group pic of all of them so far really look sweet!

Wow that tree is amazing its even got some great OSL effects on the ceiling, well done Mrs Git's

Thank you dstein & Meph!

@Gir: Actually, I did those with my airbrush!

You MUST have used masks for the starburst effect though

Yeah, starbursts are tough to do right. The tendency is to overdo it and make every light a starburst... but really it looks best if there's just a smattering here and there.

Who's the lucky tyke who got the skis?

Or what appears to be a pogo stick?

Both boys got skis. Used... but they'll work just fine for a first set. Youngest got the pogo stick from Santa. He's having a pretty good time with it... up to 5 consecutive bounces. Not bad considering there's almost no concrete on he property that isn't under 15" of snow.

I can just see it know all those strange imprints in the snow from said pogo stick lol

More like the strange imprints in the wooden floor.

Hi
Loving your work so far can't wait to see more love the xams tree and presents a lot like ours yesterday without the colorful lights ooh arrrr eeeee.can't wait to see thatr grot tank thb!!! Possabily fisrt time back on dakka for months!!! Btw blog has had update….
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/810/357188.page

Nice! Beautiful tree, Gits.

I'm looking forward to seeing you grot sturmtiger. I got a 1/48 sturmtiger myself to try out as a vindi. Hopefully, I'll get to put it together next week.

I thought you might be interested in this for your grots, too: Imperial Japanese Army Kayaba Ku-4 Ram-jet Fighter. Also 1/72 scale.

That's pretty cool YB. My only concern is that it's a bit too streamlined looking for grots. Hmmm... have to think about it and see how the sturmtiger conversion goes. Then perhaps on to bigger fish!

*He crawls in, dragging himself forward with bloodied hands. He looks to you, eyes crusted open, bloodshot and glazed.*
"Is it over?!"

Well that was a hell of a mission! I thought I got lost in the interwebs at one point but I made it through all 331 pages. Front and back! I had to skip over little sections on some pages that were just chat or I would never have read it all before Hogmany comes around but otherwise I consumed it all.

So what did I think? Well I don't want to see another Mantis Warrior ever again! Haha, no seriously, I really enjoyed the journey. Your work is of a really nice quality and it was nice to see you improve throughout. My highlights are probably quite unusual but that's because this isn't normally the sort of blog I follow so I'm viewing it from a rather unusual point of view. Here are my top four and the reasons anyway, in no particular order :
a) The very recent Aegis Defense Line.
Because of the level of detail you are putting in and the quality of the paint job! Imperial terrain is something that ties into one of my slumbering projects and this has so far been the best inspiration I've seen. If you don't mind I'll probably use some of your ideas, altered to suit my needs?
b) Tyree.
I think this has been your best model by far. Top paintjob and a minor conversion to suit your theme. I feel this is where you excel, you can take a nice lookin fig, make it your own and paint it up real nice. A skill far too many people lack. It's not something I've ever been able to do, I've got a blog planned for later this year to try and remedy that though. I'm just going to kitbash some marines, paint 'em up best I can and get 'em on the table to learn to play again. I've been converting right from the first box I picked up and I'm starting to feel like I missed the core of the hobby. Reading this blog was always something I planned to do but now seemed like a good time, a bit of research and inspiration for my own marines
c) GMS.
Yep the Great Marine Swap was a highlight for me in your blog. I never realised how involved you were in it's origin which was interesting and I loved to see your collection growing. I'd like to take part myself when I start work on my own Chapter and you'll be the first person I'll be sending a pm to when the time comes!
d) Your Mantis Warriors.
What? Yeh, Your Mantis Warriors. I tend towards DIY lore becuase i don't like fiddling with canon. That's always been a rule of mine and I find that when people do fiddle with it it really grates on me and feels wrong. You, sir, found a little sliver of grey area and I loved it. Your lore was enjoyable and you managed to make the Chapter your own without messing with what's already solid. Great job!

So that probably isn't what other people would pick out but they are a few of my personal favourites.

I'll leave this here before it gets any longer, Merry Christmas to you and yours Gits!

Wow CL... it's kind of hard to know what to say. I can't properly express how honored I am that you braved the tumult of 2+ years of random activity, chattiness, angst, losses of confidence and frustration... I'm sure you'll need therapy now.

Your comments are as welcome as they are insightful. I'm never quite sure how people view this blog, though occasionally I ask (and do get responses). Mostly messages of assurance and encouragement which are welcome, but rarely the kind of analysis that you provided. Thank you for the time you dedicated, not only to go through this monster... but to sort your thoughts and put them on "paper". I really, really appreciate it. I am blessed to have a great readership, may of whom have become good friends even though we will likely never meet. I'm sure you've noticed that at times, the contributions to this blog or to my Mantis Warrior mythos have been significantly advanced by readers... and indeed still are to this day. One of the main characters in Ice Angel's fiction is the MW I made him as a GMS trade, and the things he's done with the character have educated my opinions about my own chapter. I haven't even begun to work on my post-crusade army yet, which will prominently feature sculpts from BLACKHAND that really give character and style to the later-period chapter. Occasionally, people do their own one-off Mantis Warrior figures, which is wonderful to see.

To your specific highlights:

a) My interest in the ADL has been a surprise. I usually hate painting big things because the level of detail I like to do means that they either take FOREVER to finish, get boring or I make accommodations for expediency so the results are less to my liking. I think because the ADL is in small pieces... I'm able to compartmentalize each and a single figure.. thus spend the time on it that I want but I get that sense of accomplishment from completing each section, which keeps me motivated. I've seen a LOT of good terrain and building work on Dakka lately... things that have been a major inspiration to me. The neat thing about my approach to the wall (from my perspective) is that it's a pretty good hybrid between my "style" (as evidenced by the zenithal lighting on the green panels) and the gritty, more realistic aspects of the rearward side... which really is where all the personality lies.

b) I forgot about Tyree. For anyone interested who's also forgotten, he's my Mantis Warrior version of Tycho.



Great figure. A great challenge too. It's tough to take something so iconic for a specific chapter and try to bend it so serve another purpose without destroying the fabric of what made it so interesting in the first place.

c) Nearly all my best work is for the GMS. I'm always in such a hurry to get the huge backlog of my own stuff done that I can never really completely relax and just "create". I can do that with the GMS figures... and it shows.

d) Thanks. I've been lucky... and since changing cannon is NOT something I wanted to do (I feel the same way about it as you do), I've really tried to "work between the lines" rather than re-writing the lines to suit my own purposes.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too CL. Thanks again. I sincerely hope you continue to contribute to the blog and I'll look forward to seeing what you do once you get your blog up and running. Be great to have new blood in the GMS too, there's been a influx of new folks and it's been really a fun thread to follow lately.

i rember you doing him very fun to watch....

 HAZZER wrote:
i rember you doing him very fun to watch....

This sentence could be taken all kinds of the wrong way...

Hey... Hey now.... This is a family show!

I have actually been working on a project for the last several days. A Christmas present of sorts for followers of the blog. Not eye candy, something you can actually use. First two steps have gone well, if the last step works I'll have something by tomorrow.

Well done C's L for slogging through the whole blog, its a monster....i remember when all i did to catch up was read through 110 pages and that was daunting enough, congratulations!

Hey, with "blog view" it's only 34 pages!

thats interesting. got a page with No posts on it...

It's called "page roll over", happens in a blog this big. Two or three posts will make things appear again.

Dear Gits, this was the first time I've seen this thread ever. I have read every single of those 331 pages just because of the sheer inspiration and awsomness.
I tip my hat to your skills in fluffying and converting.
Have some nice hollydays all of you!

So tried out those new brushes on that squad of yours

R

 The Observer wrote:
Dear Gits, this was the first time I've seen this thread ever. I have read every single of those 331 pages just because of the sheer inspiration and awsomness.
I tip my hat to your skills in fluffying and converting.
Have some nice hollydays all of you!

Two new people to take the challenge in a week?! Holy gak!

Gits you're becoming quite Dakka-famous.

Hey TO, thanks so much for taking the time to wade through these pages. I hope you found it worth your time. It's really inspiring when new folks decide to comment, makes the whole blog richer as a result. Thank you & don't be a stranger.

Gitsplitta wrote:Wow CL... it's kind of hard to know what to say. I can't properly express how honored I am that you braved the tumult of 2+ years of random activity, chattiness, angst, losses of confidence and frustration... I'm sure you'll need therapy now.

Your comments are as welcome as they are insightful. I'm never quite sure how people view this blog, though occasionally I ask (and do get responses). Mostly messages of assurance and encouragement which are welcome, but rarely the kind of analysis that you provided. Thank you for the time you dedicated, not only to go through this monster... but to sort your thoughts and put them on "paper". I really, really appreciate it. I am blessed to have a great readership, may of whom have become good friends even though we will likely never meet.

e) The very real appreciation you show to all of your readers.
That should definitely have been in my original highlights! I imagine that many people would become complacent and take their readership for granted long before 330 odd pages had come around. Your dedication and good nature come through from the first page to the last. Your warm reaction to my little analysis means a lot but it's the least I could do after reading your blog. It was a little bit of give for a hell of a lot of take, or that's how I see it anyway.

I'm sure you've noticed that at times, the contributions to this blog or to my Mantis Warrior mythos have been significantly advanced by readers... and indeed still are to this day. One of the main characters in Ice Angel's fiction is the MW I made him as a GMS trade, and the things he's done with the character have educated my opinions about my own chapter. I haven't even begun to work on my post-crusade army yet, which will prominently feature sculpts from BLACKHAND that really give character and style to the later-period chapter. Occasionally, people do their own one-off Mantis Warrior figures, which is wonderful to see.

I'd like really like to read Ice Angel's fiction eventually although I need a little break right now, haha! But yeh it's been fun to see everyone's input to your project, I sure would like to help if there are any skills I can bring to the party. Maybe I could make you a Mantis Warrior or something? Feel free to have a look through my blogs and see if there is anything I could be of use for. Blackhand did some nice work for you so I'm looking forward to that stuff coming through soon.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too CL. Thanks again. I sincerely hope you continue to contribute to the blog and I'll look forward to seeing what you do once you get your blog up and running. Be great to have new blood in the GMS too, there's been a influx of new folks and it's been really a fun thread to follow lately.

I certainly plan on sticking around to see where you go next and I'll contribute where I can for sure! I saw there seemed to be some new folk in the GMS thread, hopefully I'll be one of them before too long.

Revenent Reiko wrote:Well done C's L for slogging through the whole blog, its a monster....i remember when all i did to catch up was read through 110 pages and that was daunting enough, congratulations!

Haha, thanks man, it was worth it!

Gitsplitta wrote:Hey, with "blog view" it's only 34 pages!

I thought you didn't like blog view?

 Casey's Law wrote:
...long blogs don't seem so daunting now so i've started reading them one at a time. If other people feel the same maybe you'll indirectly benefit, Gits?

I don't. Well, I don't understand it anyway. What did it remove to get from 332 pages to 34?? Who knows?

In any case, I'd relish your continued patronage and will do my part to continue to bring you interesting fodder for discussion.

Love the work you've done on your hive tyrant. Your GS-fu is strong my friend! It would be an honor to receive a MW from you. Though, if I ever get caught up in my GMS trades, we could go that route as well.

Haha thank you very much but you're too kind, I'm okay but i'm learning. I'll see if I can come up with a Mantis Warrior for you at some point and maybe we can do a GMS swap too when you get caught up.

Here's what I've been working so dillagently on.

The best of the Imperial posters that I've been able to find on the web. All high res, on one page. There are a couple missing that were in a format my programs couldn't handle. There's also one pinup NSFW (thus the spoiler). Everything is 1" tall for easy scaling when you print it. While it appears blurry here, you can actually zoom very close in to each pic in the gallery & see that it's a good image.



Hope you find it useful.

If you find any more good ones, please send me the links and I'll add them.

Excellent collection! I may well find a use for them myself, I'm sure a lot of people will benefit from that though.

http://vfocus.com/~bcj/Dakka/

Link to my PB album of Posters
http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h295/SamuelButler/terrain%20decorative%20bitz/

Awwww.... you guys are way ahead of me on this! And here I thought I was doing something useful... :(

I am heartened by the fact that there is very little duplication between what you guys have already and the piece that I put together.

You are doing something useful. MOAR POSTERS.

 Briancj wrote:
You are doing something useful. MOAR POSTERS.

Agreed! Theres nothing wrong with multiple sources!

The posters are great, Gits! Thanks for putting them together.

SO now we have the posters what is the process.

Do you print them out on regular paper, cut , just glue them on , coat them.. ect

I might want to use some on the display..

Well, you've seen the results on my ADL.

- print on plain paper
- cut out
- apply a little white glue with a toothpick
- press in place
- dull coat

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Well, you've seen the results on my ADL.

- print on plain paper
- cut out
- apply a little white glue with a toothpick
- press in place
- dull coat

Gits, you forgot the 'Ta Daaaaaa!'

Well Damo, I knew you'd have my back so I didn't worry about it.

^ word, I got ya back homie!

Excellent gits.

Can't believe I havn't been keeping up recently... must do better next year! Those posters are great. Any addition to the modelling opportunities are worth while, so thanks!

 Ovion wrote:

 HAZZER wrote:
i rember you doing him very fun to watch....

This sentence could be taken all kinds of the wrong way...

ha ha ha ha ha ha aha ha ha ha ha aha ha ha ha ha ah ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i geuss ul have to geuss what i meant by it......

One in the style of "Big Brother is watching you" froom Orwell's 1984 saying "The Emperor is watching you" would be pretty cool...

Merry *very late* Christmas Gits

Tycho looks amazing, glad to see him finished

Awesome! Posters will definitely be useful for terrain I'm building!

Love Tyree. He looks cracking. Especially like the objective lighting.

Great posters! - I'm getting some buildings/scenery so I may print these off and add them to give a them a bit of extra greatness!

Hey gang! (I sound like Fred from Scooby Doo....) I added some of Galorn's posters to my master sheet. Cut the size of the file in half (it's still 5 megs) and updated the original post to reflect the amended sheet.

I also finished wall section #6 (now that I have a plethora of posters to choose from). Enjoy!



The red stain in the middle of the front will get cleaned up... I dumped some flesh wash all over the wall and must have missed that bit in the clean up.

That looks stunning Gits! Finally managed to catch up on all I've missed! (probably about 30 pages or so...)

@endtrans: Any time you can stop by mate. Good to see you.
@BBL: Hey BBL, been a long time! Nice you made it by.
@RA: Great! If you find any other good ones let me know.
@LL: Thank you sir! Yeah, the OSL took a bit of doing... but turned out pretty good.
@monkeyh: Cool, hope you find them useful. I sure did.
@Matt: Hey, it's the old gang getting together! Perfect for the holidays.

Ive taken a break from warhams due to classes and being generally busy, but Im working my way back into it haha

Everything looks good, love those posters behind the walls!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
The red stain in the middle of the front will get cleaned up... I dumped some flesh wash all over the wall and must have missed that bit in the clean up.

I dunno, could be blood. Looking fantastic!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Wow CL... it's kind of hard to know what to say. I can't properly express how honored I am that you braved the tumult of 2+ years of random activity, chattiness, angst, losses of confidence and frustration... I'm sure you'll need therapy now.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

b) I forgot about Tyree. For anyone interested who's also forgotten, he's my Mantis Warrior version of Tycho.



Great figure. A great challenge too. It's tough to take something so iconic for a specific chapter and try to bend it so serve another purpose without destroying the fabric of what made it so interesting in the first place.

First, I am really impressed that Casey's Law went through the whole plog... wow!

Second, I don't know if I ever saw completely 100% finished Tyree. Yes, I hit "filter thread" and see that I posted congratulating you on finishing him, and taking back what I said about it probably not working, etc. So, seemingly I saw him done. But it's so amazingly striking... I guess I feel like I'm seeing it finished for the first time . Absolutely awesome!

Third... this Aegis line is being treated how they should be, as a part of the army, painted to the same standard. It is really looking great

@BBL: Well, glad you're back mate. I love the way the posters humanize the back of the ADL... makes the front wanting though. I have an idea but it'll wait until the rest of the wall is painted and I've got some room to experiment.

@Arakasi: Thanks! Hmmm.... that gives me ideas.

@RiTides: Been a long time my friend. Glad you found your way back. It's impressive anytime anyone takes on this beast to be sure... then combined with sincere and telling commentary and it's truly special. Glad Tyree meets with your approval (again). Some more special figures on the que but have to work my way through the wall and some regular old infantry first.

Hey now, I Did pop in to say Merry Christmas but yes, I need to visit this section more often, and particularly your plog (which is always one of the first I check when I do come over)! Much better than News & Rumors... this inspires me to tackle my own projects and paint, as opposed to that causing me to want to buy new unreleased minis

Speaking of which, I'm curious if you continued on your Circle project, I don't see a link in your sig...

Afraid not RiTides. It's still on the "to do" list but got preempted by preparations for Adepticon.

looking good gits can you show me the posters master sheet ? is there a doc you can put up or a pic of it?

see the spoilers on page 332

About time for a year in review?

Thanks for catching that steinerp.

@wyfox: Not for a while yet, there just hasn't been that much accomplished since the last update. Once I finish up the tasks that are currently in process, I may have enough for an update.

Nice glow on Dante!

 Sageheart wrote:
Nice glow on Dante!

...Tycho (or Tyree in this case) Sageheart lol

I don't know if this is getting boring for you guys... but it's kind of getting there for me. Thankfully only one wall section left to do.

ADL section #7:



I'm thinking that the larger wall sections need something in the middle of the front. Pretty sure I know what I'm going to do here, but I'll finish the last section to this point before I make a final decision.

Off this week with the kids. Going to spend some time bumming around with them... prepping the house for grandparent's visit next weekend, skiiing, beginning to set up a model RR layout in Thing 2's bedroom. Probably play some games too. I'll sneak in some painting around the edges and hope to be well on my way to finishing all those infantry that have been sitting around at the airbrush stage.

Definitely not boring to me Gits, quite frankly im amazed at what you are managing to accomplish with such small, generic(-ish) pieces of scenery while all the time adding your won twist....They really do look great! Again, i want to add how much your work on the Necrons has helped improve everything you have done since, the Zenithal lighting and the copper pipes are simply beautiful..../gush

For the large sections, am i right in thinking you may be heading towards casaulties (either bodies, pieces or blood splashes)....? Thats where my mind was taking me ever since the blood comment made earlier anyway (apologies, i cant remember who by) and i think it could work rather well here (red vs green is always a good contrast)

EDIT: Enjoy the time with the kids mate!

Hey, thanks Reiko! I appreciate all the support. Actually I *wasn't* leading towards bodies though I agree that's a great idea. Problem is, that's even more figures I'd have to build and paint... and at this point that's the last thing I want. No, my ideas are much more humble, but hopefully... still interesting.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Hey, thanks Reiko! I appreciate all the support. Actually I *wasn't* leading towards bodies though I agree that's a great idea. Problem is, that's even more figures I'd have to build and paint... and at this point that's the last thing I want. No, my ideas are much more humble, but hopefully... still interesting.

The obvious answer is the fronts of those ADL sections are missing a healthy coating of graffiti from da Bad Moonz

looking good gits, if i get to pg 50 ill do a review... if

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Hey, thanks Reiko! I appreciate all the support. Actually I *wasn't* leading towards bodies though I agree that's a great idea. Problem is, that's even more figures I'd have to build and paint... and at this point that's the last thing I want. No, my ideas are much more humble, but hopefully... still interesting.

No worries my friend, always here to add....well, something....

Yeah good point, wasnt really thinking of it in that way....in that case i look forward to where you do go with it (although i must say Alfndrate has hit on a winner right there...)!

@Alf:

Man... got a new keyboard for Christmas and it's *really* screwing me up. I mean it's a nice keyboard but the spacing is different than my old one (which is the same style I use at work) and I'm mistyping every other word.


I think I'll take a que from my good friend graven and let everyone know what they can look forward to in 2013.

1. Finishing my Adepticon army.
- one more ADL section
- 9 mixed marines
- fixing up my two razorbacks in to rhinos and re-doing the side door designs
- two land speeders (unless play testing proves these to be non-viable)

2. GMS marines.
- graven
- BLACKHAND
- Solar_lion

3. Finish my LoTD marine & squad.

4. Build and paint up my FW Tartaros Pattern terminators

5. Finish my two LS Storms (missing guns/gunner & one rider each, plus some detail)

6. Do my late-period vanguard... but I'm going to hang on until a new SM dex comes out... unless it just seems that it's not going to happen for years. Now that I'm very comfortable with the way to do the swords correctly, I'm finally ready to go.

7. Finish my Warmahordes army!!


While I have hundreds of figures to paint, that should be a good start and achievable. Thanks for hanging with me through 2012. Not a typical year... what... 5 months of down-time? Hopefully, I'll be able to sustain my interest and enthusiasm throughout 2013 & turn out some models you guys will enjoy.

Happy New Year all!
Gits

 Gitsplitta wrote:
@Alf:

What? I meant tasteful graffiti, like "orks rulez" on one section, a little yellow paint

Or... go whole hog and add this:



In the end, I'm joking and I'm sure what you're thinking of is going to be top notch as always

Happy New Year to you as well Gits!! (when it rolls around to your part of the world)

Love the list of things to do, especially the LATD Marines, the GMS marines, the ADL, actually...all of it.... Heres to 2013!

Sounds good buddy-boy! Let's see which of us makes our New Year's (hobby) Resolutions!

Actually Alf, I just turned that into a poster and added it to the sheet!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Actually Alf, I just turned that into a poster and added it to the sheet!

I'm helpful!

Last one Gits, power through!

Happy New Year, Gits! Like the line-up for 2013!

Pushed hard... finished in time to spend the rest of New Year's Eve with my family!

Here's the 8th section... you can see how I finished the front. Did 2 this way.



Did the other two this way.


"Warning You have entered a Mantis Warrior protectorate. Unauthorized movement within this district is punishable by death."

And the whole wall together.



I need a drink! Cheers & Happy New Year!

Very nice, as always, Gits.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you too YB & thanks!

Wow, that's a great looking Aegis-line!
And Happy New year (a bit late) to everyone

Niiiiice Gits! that terrain looks top notch! it seems we have found the next iterration of awesome that you will now no doubt be using your skills on! looks as if you may have a suitably brilliant table + terrain soon!

Ooooo didnt see that coming (i blame beer....) but it looks great! Happy New Year Gits and everyone else

Best Aegis line ive seen! Brilliant Gits.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Gits!
That Aegis Line is incredible, so thank you for sharing as well as putting in tons of work on it!

@hemmis, nerdfest, Reiko,Vit & Dragon Warrior: Thanks mates! Happy New Year to you as well!

Got a little work done on the infantry. GS'd the roundels for their shoulder pads. I always forget to do this and usually don't remember until the figure is nearly completely painted. Turned out fine though so once those are set I can move on to the next step.

Git's, I'm glad the little sniper bear made it on to the defense line

Happy New Year to your family as well man, here's to another year of your awesome painting.

Very nice! It really looks impressive lined up like that

mmm Manta good.

And with those couple of posts Ladies and Gentlemen, this monster plog has just passed the 10000th post....just thought i would mention it, and congratulate Gits (and all lthe posters) on the acheivement!

They look great! Happy new year!

Love the Mantis Symbol on the ADL very nice Git's, the whole wall looks oustanding.

Don't forget the Quad gun

Thank you Reiko... I was totally oblivious of that fact!

@monkeyh: Danke. :-)

@Gir: I have it... built and ready for painting. It's just a lower priority as it hasn't made the cut for my Adepticon list.

Are you running an ADL without a gun then?

What are you planning on hiding behind it if so?

My half of the army is more or less as follows:

HQ: stock libby
EL: 5 sternguard, 2 plasma cannons
TP: 10 tac marines, flamer, las cannon, rhino
TP: 10 tac marines, flamer, las cannon, rhino
FA: in flux, but my current idea is 2 land speeders with twin heavy bolters each
Hvy: 5 devs w/ 4 ML

So I potentially have 4 different heavy weapon armed squads (or combat squads) that could take refuge behind the wall... and my partners will all have theirs as well. Play testing has convinced me that the quad gun is just not worth the points in a 1000 point game, but the wall definitely is.

Hey Gitspilitta. Just came across your project and i have to admit im a little sorry that i've only found it now after being part of this site a year. Theres so much good stuff in these pages. I've just spent the last 2 hours or so checking out all the P&M Summeries (a great idea btw) and now i'm gonna try and work my way through (hopefully) all 334 pages of awesomeness. If the words "Epic undertaking" haven't been used already then they should have been and if they have they surely haven't been said enough. Because thats what this project is. The custom Helms and Shoulder pads are a great touch and they are what i think make your Mantis Warriors truely a unique army.

I have been perusing the last few pages and i really like the ADL. The mini posters are a magnificent touch as well. I've just put together a few cardboard building so i may just print some of those wee posters out and stick em on.


Congratz on 10k posts as well.

Hey-ya Snrub! It's never too late to join the party! Welcome aboard! I'm so glad you found the P&M summaries useful. At some point I realized that this monster was just too big to expect anyone to go through from start to finish & I couldn't even find things in it myself anymore. So I started the summaries as a way if indexing the blog. The bat rep links and other short cuts in the OP just came naturally after that.

As you have no doubt discovered, this is an audience participation blog. That's what makes it so great... I don't have to come up with all of the awesomeness myself. Please feel free to comment and contribute as you like. That's what makes it fun (especially for me). There *are* pages and pages of chatting which you can skip through pretty quickly. Hopefully though... enough quality content to keep you interested.

Thanks Snrub & hope you enjoy the unabridged version.

looking great gits keep it up!!!!!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Pushed hard... finished in time to spend the rest of New Year's Eve with my family!

(snip)

And the whole wall together.



I need a drink! Cheers & Happy New Year!

Looks fantastic, Gits! Congrats on finishing it

Thanks Haz & RiTides! Taking a bit of a break... back to painting in a bit.

Thanks everyone for being patient. Been sick and busy with visiting relations. Hope to get up and running again sometime this week.

Hope you feel better (and finish the relative-visiting for the year) Gits, will eagerly await any updates...

Hope you recover quickly.. About time for another battle report?

Finally made some progress. Still a number of things to do, but I"m closing in to be sure. Will need to add a few details like purity seals to make them interesting, but that can wait until the end.

Very nice, Gits. I love that old-time Flamer. And the color blending on these guys is fantastic.

Thanks YB. It's interesting to see how far I've come. The first marines I did used an airbrush too, but they're a lot less interesting. When I finish these I'll do a before and after shot to compare the two. My color range has changed/improved & I think my technique has improved as well.

Fun to see those old las cannons again. Not very exciting but nostalgic none-the-less. Those FW marines Nerdy gave me are just spectacular... hard to go wrong there.

Fun thing how the lascannons help with the scale creep issue Looks great Gits, looking forward to the before/after pic!

R

Looking good. I love the contrast of the green armor and the metal weapons.

 Solar_lion wrote:
Looking good. I love the contrast of the green armor and the metal weapons.

Sometimes simple is best.

Wow, Art, those are looking spectacular mate! seriously great looking marines, like YB said the blending/shading is near perfect and really adds to how clean and cohesive the squad looks, all of your models have been great right from the start (that's what got so many of us hooked here!) but as far as improvement goes holy gak you've come up in leaps and bounds! these latest ventures including the adl have looked like magazine worthy pieces! I know even from my own blog it's simply amazing how much you seem to learn and change without even realising it, I sometimes wish I can start from now, but seeing the progress is a great way to sit back and feel proud of your efforts, and you my friend should be super proud!

Those are some old school gubbinz you got on those marines. What are they 2nd ed lascannons and a flamer?

The las cannoneers are very old... not sure which edition. The flamer is actually FW but made in the old style.

Ooh... Mk4 helms! Love the mk4 goodness.


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Great parts fusion, it's just you all over.

Next to beakies I love the Mk 4 look.

Those are looking really good mate!

Hi Gits! Popped in after a bit of an absence, great work with the posters I'll be nicking those, Yoink! The aegis defence line is great and as I need to paint two sets myself soon and the wall of Martyrs, it has given me up some real inspiration. All I need to do is find some time now to do it all with my new little girl here. As always keep up the good work.

inmygravenimage wrote:Ooh... Mk4 helms! Love the mk4 goodness. Great parts fusion, it's just you all over.

I just cobbles together what I gots ta werk wif!

monkeyh wrote:Those are looking really good mate!

Thank you monkeyh, nice to see you stopping by the blog.

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:Hi Gits! Popped in after a bit of an absence, great work with the posters I'll be nicking those, Yoink! The aegis defence line is great and as I need to paint two sets myself soon and the wall of Martyrs, it has given me up some real inspiration. All I need to do is find some time now to do it all with my new little girl here. As always keep the good work.

Ah, childbearing... I remember the immediate aftermath well. Glad you like it Reaper & hope that you find the sheet helpful. There's a lot of good stuff there... you just need to tease it out & put it in the right context.

Haven't been able to get online for a while but I see you've been keeping busy! Nice updates, your ADL looks brilliant finished, I think I'm going to have to buy one. I'm playing with the manufactorum kit right now which is interesting, lots of options. It was nice to see your 2013 list, I think I'll write one myself!

Keep up the great work mate.

Hey Casey, welcome back! Yeah, I'm actually making short work of my 2013 list... wall is done already and the infantry should be done by week's end. Then will probably take a bit of a brake and finish up graven's GMS marine... then back to fixing up the rhinos & finally the land speeders.

Which reminds me... I'm in need of two sets of double-heavy bolters for my land speeders. Anyone have any extra? I'm not sure how they mount on, especially the bottom one. Mine are old models so I don't really have any bits left (or organized) for them. Anyone have any ideas or pictures?

Thx.


OH, tonight's project. I decided that doing all the fiddly details on each marine would drive me nuts, so I started with the 3 las cannons and finished them off. I'll do the last 5 in a couple of groups as well. All I need do to these guys is finish the basing and the pods on the las cannon barrels (which I just forgot to paint).

Looking Cool gits, The studs on the shoulders look really clean. i can never get them to look so good. (but then i have only ever done one) and you have done a ... few

Thank you M0ridan!

Well, finished the las cannons this morning. I debated doing some fancy OSL on the pods but it just didn't seem to fit with the feel of the figure. Made some progress on the other 5 too.

Nice work, Gits. Very nostaligic. The marines are fantastic, as I said before, but I really love your bases.

Great additions.

 Gitsplitta wrote:

Which reminds me... I'm in need of two sets of double-heavy bolters for my land speeders. Anyone have any extra?

Hey, Gits, I've got 3 Heavy Bolters, 2 from a Valk and 1 from a Landspeeder. PM me if you're interested.

Very nice work on the lascannons. It's refreshing to see models that are not perfectly uniform- a nice reminder of the early days! I'm not 100% on the white studs though, looks a little stark. Eyes are lovely on these guys, btw.

That was part of the original color scheme... I'm just going to plan. Also the picture is somewhat overexposed... they aren't quite that white in person.

The rest of the marines are nearly done. Have a finished pic for you tomorrow, just need to finish the basing.

They look fabulous. Lookig forward to seeing more pics.

Very nice! You real do the models justice!

Infantry done! Making good progress on my Adepticon army.

Beautiful. I particularly like the one on the lower left, both the purity seal and the rock sticking to his foot, like he's kicking up as he runs. Great sense of movement.

So, Gits, did you use zenithal highlights with your airbrush on these?

Oh WOW!!!
Gits those look AMAZING!!! They absolutely put mine to shame! I've much to learn about my airbrush, it seems...

That`s a great looking unit right there Gits The scrolls do help the overall appearance quite a lot,.

I checked if I had any HBs lying around. Couldn`t find any on the first search but I`ll take another look. Looking forward on seeing them Speeders

R

Impressive work chief. My personal fave is top left, but then I'm a total sucker for mk4. It's always an achievement when someone finishes an army; kudos, my friend.

Awesome! And since we are picking favourites I'd say the flamer, closely followed by the two bolters on the right of the bottom row. The flamed looks like a bad A mother frakker.

Man, these figures really do so the size creep, don't they? The Mk IVs are a good head taller and much more massive side-to-side... and that's AFTER I changed out the shoulder pads from the current standard to hollowed out plastic beakie pads. With the pads they're designed with (modern style) they'd look even more massive.

I've gotta agree... that Mk IV armor, especially the helms just kick butt.

Wow you ain't kidding about the size creep. Its like a power armoured bring your kids to work day.

"Here little Timmy, you play with daddy's lascannon while daddy goes and slays that heretic over there"

I didn't notice the size creep until you mentioned it. Maybe the Lascannons are just too heavy lol. Great job, Love the flamer and your scrolls.

Awesome!

One-word posts are obviously sent to page-rollover oblivion! You have angered the Dakka-gods monkeyh!

Beautiful work Gits...

And with a wave of my magic brush... I convert my two razorbacks into rhinos! (not exciting for you guys but *very* exciting for me!)



Tough work trying to re-create my old paint scheme... Didn't quite do it, the new color is too vibrant, but that's not a bad problem to have eh? Also made the storm bolters out of the dread under-arm storm bolters. They're magnetized so I can remove them when I'm running them as razorbacks. I have spot lights on order which I will also magnetize or pin as depending on which dex I use they may or may not be standard equipment. I'd like to re-paint the side doors but it's an optional project at this point.

So... as for progress towards my 2013 goals: (which have been slightly modified as my needs for Adepticon have morphed)

1. Finishing my Adepticon army.
- finish ADL (complete!)
- finish 8 mixed marines (complete!)
- finish converting two razorbacks into rhinos and re-doing the side door designs (partially complete!)
- land speeder typhoon
2. GMS marines.
- graven
- BLACKHAND
- Solar_lion
3. Finish my LoTD marine & squad.
4. Build and paint up my FW Tartaros Pattern terminators
5. Finish my two LS Storms (missing guns/gunner & one rider each, plus some detail)
6. Do my late-period vanguard... but I'm going to hang on until a new SM dex comes out... unless it just seems that it's not going to happen for years. Now that I'm very comfortable with the way to do the swords correctly, I'm finally ready to go.
7. Finish my Warmahordes army!!

Good start for only 13 days in.

Colour me MW green with envy... Impressive in such a short time!

Agreed!

Looks like 2013 is off to a great start

Are you going to be playing your Mantis Warriors as Blood Angels or SM? I ask because if playing SM why not take the storm talon over the typhoon so that you could have some redundancy for attacking Flyers and FMC?

I think that taking the ST would suck up the points he has for wargear ( the original intent )

Yes, too expensive and lone flyer is much too vulnerable.

Either SM or DA. I'm 'sperimentin.


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OK... So no one is impressed with my rhinos. That's OK... I can take it. You probably won't like my next little project either... but... it still needs to be done.

Oh I like your rhino's Gits! just waitin' to see what else goes with 'em!

Well, it'll be several days before the spot lights arrive... and I'm still debating the change in the side doors, so I don't expect anything will happen immediately.

What's next is fiddling with my sternguard's combi-weapons so they can be shown as normal bolters. Another unglamerous task, but it'll save me several extra figures worth of painting.

Hey ... I just noticed the rhino's number designation markers. Is this something you made or bought? They looked raised?

Yeah, those are just laser-cut brass. Either GW or FW makes them... can't remember now.

Im pretty sure FW does the brass. WM sent me a sheet of Red Scorpions stuff from them. Theyre a handy detail tool, but a bit expensive!

Rhinos are great Gits!
Youve already got a good chunk of your to-do list taken care of... Keep it up!

Tonight's little project....

Looks like my little army is going to have 1 or two LS Typhoons (depending) so I was anxious to get going. Of course I have this "thing" about rescuing old models... so I grabbed one of my crappy old land speeders and started disassembling. 20 minutes later I realized that the LS I was so carefully taking apart was missing several pieces (side door, wind screen & I'd busted off the main sensor). So... I grabbed the second one, this time checking to see that all the bits were there. (They were.)

If course in keeping with the army, no Mk-7 armor is allowed, so the driver and gunner had to go (along with the glued on multi-melta). I needed the arms though and the legs are built into the seat... so they stay. I actually was able to remove both sets of arms from both speeders without any casualties, a good sign. Then began the laborious task of building a new Mk-6 upper body with the original LS arms, a manufactured thingie that connects the back of the marine to the back wall of the cabin... and a beakie helm of course.

You guys would laugh out loud if you knew how much time, effort and specialized tools went into making this stupid little conversion.... but it's done. One down... one to go! This'll all get dipped in simple green before I attempt to paint it... old, nasty paint must be expunged!

Of course what you call "Old, Nasty Paint" is what I refer to as "a pretty decent paintjob". I could cry, Gits. But then, how would I see to paint (in a mediocre fashion)?

Well, at one time I would have agreed with you about the paint job... and back then I was still painting more detail than most of my friends. But... alas... I have higher standards now. Ye olde 3-step paint/wash/drybrush just doesn't cut it any more.

Job`s a good `un so far Gits

Regarding the LS with the missing parts. Do some more plasticarding. Should be a good excercise in that respect.

R

I can fully believe positioning that guy in there was a beast! Smoothly done though.

As graven says, that must have been a giant pain...but you have pulled it off rather well! (i must say that the mottled complexion of the beakie is rather disconcerting )

I hadn't seen the Aegis line, just saw it in the gallery due to a comment made by another dakkanaut.
And wow, these walls look damn great ! I love the green, it's really deep and vibrant. Do you use an airbrush or so ? Nice detailing on the inside too. I want an aegis line now...


I also like the idea of Typhoon speeders, I'm curious about how you'll paint them. I hope there'll be nice markings and some battle damage.

Thanks guys, the real pain is getting all the bits to mesh correctly. The upper body can still be taken out so I can fully paint the interior, but getting modern arms onto a Mk VI body, the trimming down the shoulders (on the actual arms) so that I can fit a pair of hollowed out shoulder pads cut from the original Mk VI arms is quite a chore. Head needed to be elevated too so there's a little pad of GS underneath it.

@Minus: The wall was great fun. It's all airbrushed using Vallejo Air paints. Their dark green primer, chromate green next, finally thinned livery green (which is a Vallejo game color that approximates GW's scorpion green) as the highlight. The back is just their bone colored primer with a medium brown in the seams. Then washed (black in front, sepia in back). Finally, black and brown weathering powders were applied but only on the back side.

I'm not sure about the damage on the land speeder... mainly because the rest of my army is pretty damage free and I'm concerned that banging up the land speeders would really look out-of-place when the rhinos and marines are factory new. Now... I'd like to do it... just think it might be opening a can of worms. Also, is strikes me that a "beaten up" land speeder isn't very believable. It's a light, ephemeral little thing. It gets shot by nearly anything, scrapes the ground or flies through tree branches of any appreciable size and it's just going to crash... it's not going to survive the kind of abuse even a rhino would take.

I'll think about it though Minus... scuffing up my vehicles is something that's been on my "to do" list for a while now.


Now for this morning's "I'm old and I can't sleep through the night anymore" project... building a new gun rail for the speeder! Worked pretty well I think.

Nice fix

What parts are you missing.. I can look thru all my bits.

The rail came out nicely!

Brass wire replacement. Very nicely done. Wouldn't it, for simplicities sake, have been easier to leave the rail off until you had stripped it?

The rail can be removed (it's not glued in yet). Actually it's off right now while I'm manufacturing the gun mount. I never liked the clip so I'm making a box with a magnet on top so I can just drop whatever gun on I want onto the mount. The addition up side is that the gun can actually traverse the rail.

Should have pics of that later today. If it works, I'll probably be manufacturing new gun rails for all of my land speeders.

I think it would have been better to strip the model, first. Otherwise, I know the effort required to 'rebuild' the pilot/gunner of a Landspeeder. Looking forward to the airbrush attack!

Fraking magnets. How do they work?

I always like seeing magnets used for stuff. Did you ever get the twin heavy bolters you were after?

Briancj wrote:I think it would have been better to strip the model, first. Otherwise, I know the effort required to 'rebuild' the pilot/gunner of a Landspeeder.

Neither the gun rail or the upper bodies of the crew are attached. They'll be stripped separately and assembled after painting.

Snrub wrote:Fraking magnets. How do they work?

I'll take some pics so you can see. They can be very handy.

I always like seeing magnets used for stuff. Did you ever get the twin heavy bolters you were after?

Yep, Yellow Beard came through for me.


This all means that I have 4 torsos & heads for the original LS crew.... would make good tank commanders I'd think. Anyone interested? I can take a pic.

Do they have the AdMech 'cog' shoulderpads?

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I'll take some pics so you can see. They can be very handy.

I was quoting that stupid Insane Clown Posse song. I am well aware of how magnets function

No need for photo evidence.

Is the second LS that banged up? Some brownstuff might be good for surface damage, and plasticard is nifty for constructing new or unique parts. Show a pic and lets assess the damage

R

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I never liked the clip so I'm making a box with a magnet on top so I can just drop whatever gun on I want onto the mount. The addition up side is that the gun can actually traverse the rail.

Wow! That's... going to be awesome. If you think of it, please take a picture of how it's built. The gun rail looks good, and the pilot came out nice? Those are some rather old bits, I think.. Looking forward to see how it turns out.

Rhinos look good. Nice clean paint job.

The Landspeeder will look good done to the same standard as your current work.
Rail is cool and a traversing gun will be very cool.

Sorry Snrub, I'm not up on Insane Clown Posse lyrics. My bad.

@Briancj: No, sorry... the shoulder pads were trashed during the arm removal process... it's just the bodies and the heads.

@Red: You're just TRYING to invent more work for me aren't you??

@Dr H: Thanks. I hope so. I mocked up the system and it seems to work just fine. I won't assemble the traverse until the rail is fully painted (which I'll probably do today).

@YB: Sure thing matey. It's actually a really simple little system. We'll see how it looks once it's all together. The driver is actually just a combination of the original plastic beakie head, torso and shoulders with the LS driver's arms trimmed down so the beakie pads will go over them. I'm working on the gunner's body now... once that's fitted, it's into the dip for the speeder!

Oh Gitz i'm right there with you. I know exactly dick about them too except a friend has that one line repeating over and over again as his mobile phone ringtone. So it has, for better or worse, become ingrained in my head.

Yes, yes I am Besides you said so yourself that you where making a storm of a progress so don`t blame me

But I seriously think that salvaging that LS will be a good excercise that only will improve your already great skillset

R

Quick tut on the traversing gun mount. I just realized that pictures for Step #1 and Step #1 are reversed. Sorry.

1. Took a slice of a square piece of plastic tubing and cut off one edge so I could get it around the bar. This would be totally unnecessary if you just slipped the little square on before either bending the corner or adding the support bar. The square tubing will keep the gun level against the body of the LS.

2. Added a thin sheet of styrene to close the box, trimmed excess. Very careful with the glue here kids, you want only the styrene box to be glued together.

3. Added rare earth magnet. Again, very thorough but very careful glue job.

4. (not pictured) Recessed matching magnet into base of gun after removing little plastic clamp (original attachment for gun).

5. Place rail on LS and drop gun onto mount... easy! First pic shows gun over by the support bar, next pic shows it pushed the other way. It's tilted up because the belt feed gets in the way but there's enough slush in the system that you can still get it over there without a problem.

6. And of course because it's mounted by round magnets the gun can swivel in place as well.



The whole arrangement still isn't attached... it's just pressure fit into the holes for the weapon mount. If you really wanted to be fancy you could permanently attach a gunner's body to the gun and have it pinned (no glue) to the legs so it would pivot. That way the gunner would be facing the right direction all the time, but you'd need a new gunner for each gun. You could probably do this with magnets as well but I'm not sure it'll be worth the effort. I may try it though... just for giggles.

Very interesting. Simple but effective.

I was going to ask what you were going to do about the gunner, but I see you have thought about it.

However, a thought on the problem, You could attach the gunner's arms and the trigger mechanism / handles to the plastic box under the gun and not attach it to the gun itself. Make it look like that's how it's supposed to work and then you can swap out the guns, and therefore the gunner, his arms and the handles can all stay in place.

I think that's the way GW has it in the original. Makes perfect sense.

That is some impressive modelling-fu my friend.

Cool. I'm full of good ideas today, yay me!
*ahem*
I wouldn't know about the actual models, I've not seen a landspeeder up close, old or new.

Look forward to seeing it complete.

 Dr H wrote:
Very interesting. Simple but effective.

I was going to ask what you were going to do about the gunner, but I see you have thought about it.

However, a thought on the problem, You could attach the gunner's arms and the trigger mechanism / handles to the plastic box under the gun and not attach it to the gun itself. Make it look like that's how it's supposed to work and then you can swap out the guns, and therefore the gunner, his arms and the handles can all stay in place.

Actually, you gave me an interesting idea Dr H... going to have to 'speriment...

Great modelling skills, always love the clever use of magnets like that, nice work!

Ohh...like the tutorial! What size magnets are you using?

Very nice, Gits. Thanks for the tut!

 wyomingfox wrote:
Ohh...like the tutorial! What size magnets are you using?

1/8"

Awesome setup Gits. Thats perfect for the swappable weapons- I think Im gonna try something similar on my Mek Junka, once I get back to it xD Lots of weapon options there!

You know...what you could do is make a battle damaged version of everything in your army. Then, as your army is destroyed (or not) during a tournament, you put away the "Factory New" models and bring out the "Slightly Used" versions for later rounds.

So you want to effectively double his workload? Are you trying to kill the poor man?

Hey guys. I managed to kill my home internet connection so updates are going to be intermittent and picture free until that gets fixed.

I've modified the heavy bolter slightly by shortening the ammo feed belt, thus allowing the gun to sit more naturally across the entire traverse. I also magnetized a multi-melta to fit the system. Had to remove the power cables (for the same reason as the ammo feed on the HB) but to be honest I don't think it negatively impacts the vehicle at all. The guns just kind of pop into place... it's pretty amazing. I have a picture but no way to upload it at the moment. In retrospect... I think the whole traversing thing is probably not necessary... but it's just as simple to make a system that did traverse as to make one that didn't... so why not?

@Dragon Warrior: Neat idea but just too much work. That being said... any new vehicles i put togetehr (tank-wise) will definately have some weathering/battle damage on them (take a look at the Vindicator I did last year). If I have a chance, I may work on the rhinos a bit to give them some light weathering. It's tough for me because experience with my orks suggests I have a tendency to overdo it... which I don't want to do with my marines. I may do some small arms damage on the LSs... but I just don't see the kind of wear or weathering you get on a tank happening on a skimmer, they just aren't built for it.

Here's the Vindy. No dirt (as of yet), but a little bit banged up on the leading edge... which I like.

I think your overal subtle approach is great, consistant and doesn't distract from the model . My normal peeve about the subject.

I like your Vindicator Gits. That green is so sweet. Especially on the side panels.
And I love this OOP model.

Contrarily to you, I have always imagined the land speeder as quite exposed to damages. Of course, they can't be hit by a rail gun shot and keep flying as if nothing happened.
But in my mind, they fly rapidly at low altitude and are particularly subject to collisions with shrapnels and so on.

Quite like in these illustrations :







Of course, this is MY vision of Land Speeders, and that is why I paint them quite used and weathered (example : http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/397404-Land%20Speeder%2C%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Typhoon%2C%20Ultramarines.html ). I understand if you prefer not to paint damages on yours, only wanted to explain my point of view.

Nice work on that LS Minus... Wow! Still, even that isn't too beat up... chewed on a little, yes. But not too bad at all.

I don't disagree that LSs would be in harne's way... I just don't think they'd survive long enough to get beat ip looking. (those must be 5th edition land speeders)

I can't remember the last time I saw this thread, actually forgot about it. No way possible I'll catch up, so I'll just go forward from here. The traversing mount is brilliant! I can see applications for that in many instances. And the Vindicator is off to a great start, almost sad to thing about the filth that will be visited on it soon as it looks so very cool w/ the 'straight off the factory floor' look.

Subbed (again) and will try to keep up.

Gotta say that land speeder get tore up a bit. I have one in my army that has hundreds of holes in it (well maybe only 50). Its a consistent crowd pleaser. People love it. Pilots get shot sometimes too.

Vindi is very nice chief. I loved the chipped headlight, really cool.

Thanks guys. Hate to re-hash an old model but it does illustrate my point nicely.

Wife fixed the internet so here's the pic for you. You can see how I cut down the ammo feed on the bolter and removed the cables altogether on the multi-melta. No big loss in my opinion.

Nice work on the speeder.

Re damage: While I agree with Minus (I imagine streaks and chips and scrapes more from debris than battle damage, but light arms fire would also suffice), I'd suggest for you adding "minimal" weathering to your vehicles as you do them, slowly increasing the amount over time until you hit a place you are happy with. This way the difference between vehicles will not be so obvious, and you can find that right level for you.

Re gun rail: Nicely done. Does the traversing gun mount come off to be painted separately? Because otherwise keeping it mobile during painting seems like a challenge to me...

Re vindicator: Still like what you did there

Keep up the good work (not that you need the motivation)

 Gitsplitta wrote:
[/url]

Are you going to paint the skulls near the main gun? They appear to be just unfinished at the moment.

I dont know if it was intentional or not, but I love how you painted the damaged spotlight on the Vindi. It looks like its busted and not lighting up with the others. Real good light weathering.

I was merely suggesting a long term project for Gits, in case he got bored! Also, I was hoping to see how long it took for the local group to figure out what was going on. Also, it would be pretty cool, and a way to have a beat-up force and a clean force.
Also...okay, I am sorry Mr. Gits. I will stop trying to work you to death.

Arakasi wrote:Nice work on the speeder.

Thanks!

Re damage: While I agree with Minus (I imagine streaks and chips and scrapes more from debris than battle damage, but light arms fire would also suffice), I'd suggest for you adding "minimal" weathering to your vehicles as you do them, slowly increasing the amount over time until you hit a place you are happy with. This way the difference between vehicles will not be so obvious, and you can find that right level for you.

Excellent advice Arakasi... I think I'll take it.

Re gun rail: Nicely done. Does the traversing gun mount come off to be painted separately? Because otherwise keeping it mobile during painting seems like a challenge to me...

Yes, the whole thing is just pressure fit and disassembles for painting.

Re vindicator: Still like what you did there Keep up the good work (not that you need the motivation)

Thank's again! (I'll take all the motivation I can get.)

whalemusic360 wrote:Are you going to paint the skulls near the main gun? They appear to be just unfinished at the moment.

*sigh* If you insist....

Ramos Asura wrote:I dont know if it was intentional or not, but I love how you painted the damaged spotlight on the Vindi. It looks like its busted and not lighting up with the others. Real good light weathering.

Yep, that was on purpose. Note that the other lenses all have "glass" lenses in them but that one does not as the glass was shattered.

@Dragon Warrior: No problem my friend. Understood. Who knows what the future holds. I certainly have enough models for a "clean" and a "dirty" force. Just a matter of time is all.

That Vindi looks great. I echo Ramoss sentiment in regards to the busted up light. Its a real nice touch. Not one often seen unfortunately.

loooking good gits!!!! love the fw guys anf the ls !!!! ive got a half broken ls at hme that i may fix in the futre too!!!

 Gitsplitta wrote:

 wyomingfox wrote:
Ohh...like the tutorial! What size magnets are you using?

1/8"

1/8" Diameter by 1/8" High?

Mixed. I have both 1/8" high and 1/16" high, 1/8" diameter magnets... so I just mix and match depending oh how deep the hole I drill is and how things fit together.

Great vindicator, Gits
Love the subtle blend of the green (*sigh* I'm running out of good reasons to NOT get an airbrush and learn how to use it...) and the little details like the busted light and the gray "chips-offs" on the dozerblade

Keep up the good work, this thread allways renew my love for miniatures and painting done properly!

 Gitsplitta wrote:

How do you do the fade on the panels? I'm assuming this is with an airbrush somehow...

WOW!
That Vindi looks ace!! And your zenital airbrush is fab!

Just a question, where do you get those lenses for the lights from?
As i'm currently painting the vehicles for my Rogue Trader Company that would help me immensly.

hemmis92 wrote:Great vindicator, Gits
Love the subtle blend of the green (*sigh* I'm running out of good reasons to NOT get an airbrush and learn how to use it...) and the little details like the busted light and the gray "chips-offs" on the dozerblade

Keep up the good work, this thread allways renew my love for miniatures and painting done properly!

Very high praise hemmis92, thank you so much... I do appreciate it.

RiTides wrote:How do you do the fade on the panels? I'm assuming this is with an airbrush somehow...

Yes. As miniholic mentions below, it's called zenithal lighting. There are some terrific tutorials on youtube for it. It is indeed an airbrush technique but one that is dirt simple to learn. I did it "correctly" the very first time I tried it.

miniholic wrote:WOW!
That Vindi looks ace!! And your zenital airbrush is fab!

Just a question, where do you get those lenses for the lights from?
As i'm currently painting the vehicles for my Rogue Trader Company that would help me immensly.

Thank you mini, very kind of you. The lenses are actually made out of stuff called "doming resin"... it's a jewelry thing (my background is in jewelry so there's a lot of carry over for me). This little gem I learned from BLACKHAND however. It's a kind of clear, 2 part epoxy. You mix up a bit and pour it in for water effects, lenses, whatever... the advantage is that it doesn't really shrink when it dries, it keeps it's domed shape (at least more than anything else). I just put a drop in with a toothpick to get my lenses.

Here's the link to my supplier: http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Colores-Epoxy-Doming-Resin-System/623014
It's $25 for the set of materials... but you'll never need to buy more... not for years anyway. Here are some examples of other things I've used it for (water effects on bases)

Water effects on a dead marshes kind of base.


Again for a small river... that layer is probably 3/8" high and goes all the way to the edge of the base (I just used scotch tape to keep it in).

It does pull up a bit on the edges, but it's "truer" than any other type of similar effect that I've tried... and in a confined area it does dome nicely.


Hmmm.... Oh yes, an update! I finished building the gunner this evening. Now that it's all done I'll remove the various bits and toss it all in Simple Green to get rid of the old paint.


I wanted to give the impression that they were scanning the ground for something... a new target perhaps? A lost comrade? Who can tell the motivations of tiny, 20 year old toy soldiers??

OH, and I'm starting work on graven's GMS marine again. To refresh your memories... this guy.



Airbrushing the black is done along with the initial lining and some of the leather bits... I'm just trying to sort out the rest of the colors (he's supposed to be part of a Death Watch team / devastator in training). Not sure what to do about his actual clothes... but as they're supposed to be rather stealthy, I'm thinking grays.

The LSs should be ready to clean when I get back from my ski outing with Thing 2 this morning. Then we can get down to converting/fixing the second one.

Toodles!

Yay for preposterously awesome gun o'doom!

It's the thumbs up that always makes me chuckle....

I still think the thumb is too long. But, hey. Duke Nukem Forever!

looking good gits, as allways long the RTBo1 minis!!!! i may have to do the same to my LS... man ur making me want to refirbush it!!!!! Or repair at least!!!!

Excellent! Love he pose on this guy.

Thank you guys, I hope not to disappoint!

 Briancj wrote:
I still think the thumb is too long. But, hey. Duke Nukem Forever!

Actually Brian, I was looking at that picture closely after I posted it and I agree with you. I'm just not sure if I can cut it down without completely foxing it. I think I'll give it a try though... just for argument's sake.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
The lenses are actually made out of stuff called "doming resin"... it's a jewelry thing (my background is in jewelry so there's a lot of carry over for me). This little gem I learned from BLACKHAND however. It's a kind of clear, 2 part epoxy. You mix up a bit and pour it in for water effects, lenses, whatever... the advantage is that it doesn't really shrink when it dries, it keeps it's domed shape (at least more than anything else). I just put a drop in with a toothpick to get my lenses.

Here's the link to my supplier: http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Colores-Epoxy-Doming-Resin-System/623014
It's $25 for the set of materials... but you'll never need to buy more... not for years anyway. Here are some examples of other things I've used it for (water effects on bases)

Water effects on a dead marshes kind of base.

Thanks Gits for your reply and the link!

After having seen this fab base of yours i'm definitively going for water effects on my Space Sharks SEALS (Scouts)!!!

Thanks!

Well this is certinately an awesome blog. I'm trying to read it all but im only on page 13 everything looks great. Love how you mixed old and new minis together. Also thanks for posting about that resin stuff, may have to get some of that myself. Keep up this amazing work!

@miniholic: Glad I could be of service my friend. Any questions you have don't hesitate to ask. My "techniques" folder is an open book.

@Nashbashem: (great name) Thanks for checking the blog out. You can go directly to the P&M work or my battle reports from the links in the OP. However, if you're brave enough, you can try and plow though the entire blog. There's bits where it's pretty chatty, but there's a lot of goodness (not all if it from me) buried in these pages. Hope you enjoy it!


P&M Update: Sorry there hasn't been much to report, the LSs have been soaked and brushed twice now and are ready for painting. Turns out Simple Green can actually dislodge some superglue bonds but it looks as if it's only the weak ones. It worked out for the best though as the bits that fell of on the one LS were 2 of the 3 bits I need to fabricate for the other one. Working on that now. Just finished fabricating the foot step thingies. Will do the wind screen next, followed by the engine compartment door.

THEN I need to build the crew, traversing system & guns for the second LS. THEN I need to put the typhoon systems together for both and figure out how to magnetize them in place. THEN I'll finally be ready to begin painting. *Whew*... that's a lot of work!



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Visual proof of progress on LS #2. Unfortunately the white kind of overwhelms the pic so you can't see much of the details on the pieces, but I think they turned out pretty good. So... new wind screen, new engine compartment door, oh... and the instrument package broke off so that had to be drilled and pinned. Turns out I didn't need the steps after all, so I have 2 extra in case of accidents. Getting close now. Will work on the gun mount next.

You build those out of plasticard?

Yep.

Second gun mount and guns are ready to go.

Looking good Gits, the extra build looks very cohesive with the rest of the model...

Damn, musta missed that you were missing the side doors. I have spares, especially if its getting the missile racks back.

Thanks Reiko!

It's OK WM. I needed the practice. My scratch-building skills are weak. (not that it wouldn't have made things simpler but it was a victory to actually make a decent replacement myself).

Now it's on to the crew and the Typhoon launchers. Then finally... paint!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Yep.

Second gun mount and guns are ready to go.

Well done, looked original enough that I had to ask.

Thanks wyfox, I appreciate that. They aren't perfect by any means, but all the dimensions and rivet placements are spot on. I couldn't do the handle "inset" on the door of course, but I may just cover up both handles with a Mantis Warrior badge and be done with it.

I'm thinking I can finish the last of the build today and with luck, get the airbrushing done. Time will tell. Thank Heaven for Vallejo airbrushable primers. I use their dark green on my marines and it really saves time and gives me very consistent final results.

So... why the grumpy avatar??

...Politics . 60% of the time they get me grumpy all of the time.

That and Fuhrer King Bradley from Full Alchemist Brotherhood is one of my favorite characters.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I needed the practice. My scratch-building skills are weak. (not that it wouldn't have made things simpler but it was a victory to actually make a decent replacement myself).

You`re welcome

Looks great, jobs a good `un!

R

@Red: Go ahead... gloat!

Progress on graven's GMS. "One Shot, One Kill" Doesn't look that way but there's actually a fair amount of work here. Black with airbrushed highlights, then grey painted on clothes, highlighted then the entire washed black to mute it down a bit. It's a very subtle difference between the armor and the clothing but I like it so far. Oh, and a bit-o-leather too. How grey it looks depends on how much light you pour on it. Here, it looks pretty grey... in-hand it's considerably blacker. More to come.

Ah thread rollover. The killer of replies xD

EDIT: now that I can see your post, Im very interested in seeing where he goes from here.

Love this chap. The subtle work that you've got going on is great, and thumb's looking less huge too - did you trim it?

Yes, I'd forgotten that I'd actually trimmed it a long while ago. Probably after the first time I posted the build. Glad you like him graven, hope I can keep him interesting for you.

Not intending to gloat, more push you in doing stuff you`re not that comfortable doing hobbywise Mainly because you embrace challenges paint-wise not converting/scratchbuilding. I think you need to do more of the last to really improve to the next level

R

 Red Skullz wrote:
Not intending to gloat, more push you in doing stuff you`re not that comfortable doing hobbywise Mainly because you embrace challenges paint-wise not converting/scratchbuilding. I think you need to do more of the last to really improve to the next level

R

Now im not intending to answer for Gitsplitta of course but...

Have you seen/read some of Gits' other blogs? Especially his Ork blog (let alone this one!)? He does loads of conversions/scratchbuilding throught the course of all of the blogs! Pretty much every model that is in any of the blogs is converted in one way or another, whether it be a bits build, or a simple gun swap, the beauty of Gits' figures is that no 2 are alike and they all have their own story and character....

Yes, his painting is ridiculously good, and appears to be the thing that Gits focuses on most, but actually its the whole package, from getting the correct parts, to making them work together organically, to the build, to the the paint, and finally the basing to tie it all in together, Gits brings every little bit of skill and imagination to his work, thats why i think it has such a following...

just wanted to put my opinion of how i see Gits' modelling onto paper in response,

/rant

good as allways gits....

@Rev Reiko: yes I have, I do not disagree with you but I still stand for what I wrote

R

Hey guys! Sorry, been in a professional meeting all day so I haven't been able to answer.

@Reiko: Thanks for speaking up for me man, I really do appreciate it. Red's a good egg & he and I have exchanged many PMs. He's just gloating because he pushed me to do something I'd rather not have (scratch-building vehicles, vehicle bits and/or buildings is NOT my forte'). He was just trying to be encouraging as well as pushing me a bit, both of which are very much appreciated & valuable (as is your continued support). I'm proud that neither of you escalated this into an actual conflict. Shows that you're both men of good character. Believe me... I've seen lesser things blown out of all proportion on the internet before.

The funny part is that when I finally looked at the baggie of Typhoon conversion bits... there were extra doors in there! LOL! All that work & all I had to do was open the stupid bits baggie!

Anyway... both the LS builds are complete save for figuring out how to attach the missile pods. I have the bits but no instructions and they don't really seem to fit neatly anywhere... so I'll have to poke around the gallery and see what I can find. Once that's done I'll post a pic and the painting can commence.


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Typhoon builds are done. Boy what a PITA.

Red Skullz wrote:@Rev Reiko: yes I have, I do not disagree with you but I still stand for what I wrote

R

Apologies, meant to reply to thids last night but i destroyed myself at the gym and spent the evening feeling sorry for myself in bed...

An admirable comment Red Skullz, i can see your side, but i felt i had to put my £0.02 in as well...

Gitsplitta wrote:Hey guys! Sorry, been in a professional meeting all day so I haven't been able to answer.

@Reiko: Thanks for speaking up for me man, I really do appreciate it. Red's a good egg & he and I have exchanged many PMs. He's just gloating because he pushed me to do something I'd rather not have (scratch-building vehicles, vehicle bits and/or buildings is NOT my forte'). He was just trying to be encouraging as well as pushing me a bit, both of which are very much appreciated & valuable (as is your continued support). I'm proud that neither of you escalated this into an actual conflict. Shows that you're both men of good character. Believe me... I've seen lesser things blown out of all proportion on the internet before.

No problem my friend, felt a bit like i was overstepping my bounds so to speak, but i had to speak up and give my opinion...dont get me wrong, Red seems like a lovely bloke, and im not new to pushing you to do new things (well, sort of ), so i can understand that.
Thanks, its very easy to support you Gits when you you are churning out such fantastic work!
Agreed, theres nothing wrong with a freindly disagreement but im glad it didnt escalate at all, Red Skullz, good on you

The funny part is that when I finally looked at the baggie of Typhoon conversion bits... there were extra doors in there! LOL! All that work & all I had to do was open the stupid bits baggie!

oops....lol!

They look smashing Gitz, can't wait to see them painted up.

Looking good so far Gits.

How did you attach the gunner's hands to the gun in the end?

I didn't. They're just in areas that look right. On the tabletop you can't see that they aren't attached.

There's magnets on the bottom for the additional gun mount which I may or may not do before painting.

Do before painting.. No shortcuts. You can paint the additional bottom mounted guns later.

@Rev Reiko: the same mate

Gits, those two look totally awesome so far. Firepower ftw and all that What will you do with the bases? Personally I hope you ditch the transluscent ones and replace them with normal 60mm round bases so you can do your wonderfull bases. Will we see some water effects on them since it`s obviously room for more there?
But I like that you`ve used two different lenghts on the flight stems, gives a dynamic look together.

R

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I didn't. They're just in areas that look right. On the tabletop you can't see that they aren't attached.

There's magnets on the bottom for the additional gun mount which I may or may not do before painting.

ah ha, I see. tabletop makes more sense than laptop. That confused me for a bit.

But the gunner's are still going to be able to move with the traversing guns though.

Look forward to paint.

Looking grate gitts once again ur stuff is toom good!!!

Underslung mounts done. Also magnetized but I don't have any other guns at the moment. The only guns I have left are set aside for my LS Storms. Have to go visit the bits merchants!

What have you used to mount the HBs?

They look great - very cool conversion indeed! LMK what bits you need before going a-merchanting.

@Snrub: I owe it all to the kindness and brains of Yellowbeard. See below.

Yellowbeard wrote:Yes, that's right, Art. The other 2 from the Valk are intended for the door gunners. I could send you some of the mounting gear for them, if you like:



You could probably use the round piece to mount them underneath the hull. Send me your address and I'll send them to you in a day or two.

@graven: Two plastic multi-meltas. I've got two spare terminator heavy flamers that I think I can readily convert to this purpose. I would ultimately like to make one more of these so I'd have a complete set of 3 configurable land speeders (which would require another Valk mount & another set of guns), but for the time being... finishing up these two would be a sizable accomplishment.

Very nice .. Looks like they would be useful for a lot of applications.. Looks like I’ll be bit merch. As well.

Merch???

Oh wow. What an ingenious use of the valks door weapons. Are the hbs magnetized to the mounts or the mounts magnetized to the speeder?

I can probably dig up actual Land Speeder MMs from my bitz box, if no-one else has them.

Snrub wrote:Oh wow. What an ingenious use of the valks door weapons. Are the hbs magnetized to the mounts or the mounts magnetized to the speeder?

The guns are magnetized to the mounts. The mounts started being magnetized to the hull so they could swivel... but the whole thing just looked too bulky and ungainly, so I ended up just gluing the gun mounts to the hull.

Briancj wrote:I can probably dig up actual Land Speeder MMs from my bitz box, if no-one else has them.

Thanks Brian, let me know if I can do anything for you in return. If you might need them though... hold on to them. I can always snag them off e-bay.

Couldn't you have gotten by by glueing a thin steel plate to the bottom of the gun mount. I know some of my tau weopons utilize that. It would have been nice being able to swap the gun mount out as it won't fit an assault cannon if one is needed later.

Didn't think of that. Not sure where I'd have gotten a thin steel plate. In any case I'm pretty confident I can make whatever conversions that are necessary to accommodate the mount.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Didn't think of that. Not sure where I'd have gotten a thin steel plate. In any case I'm pretty confident I can make whatever conversions that are necessary to accommodate the mount.

Home Depot or Lowes? or smaller DIY shop? Maybe?

Tiny washers from Home Despot/LOL'S.

I use a bit of music wire embedded in the part. Works great for Rhino doors (its what I did to WMs Razorback)

In the past Ive used parts of old cookie tins. snipped them up with wire cutters/tin snips, and stuck them opposite of a magnet.

If Brian can sort you out, cool and the gang. Probably can locate a couple of mms if you need otherwise.

 Ramos Asura wrote:
I use a bit of music wire embedded in the part. Works great for Rhino doors (its what I did to WMs Razorback)

In the past Ive used parts of old cookie tins. snipped them up with wire cutters/tin snips, and stuck them opposite of a magnet.

Cookie tins. That is a good idea. Especially as people probably have a bunch of them lying around from the holidays.

lookin good...

I'll keep those in mind for later. TBH I don't really care that the lower gun mounts don't turn... I just want them on and clearly visible so my opponent knows what's there and I remember that there *is* something there. I have some pretty thin magnets... if I was really cranked up about it, I could recess one into the hull and the other wouldn't stick out much. I don't think that's necessary. Hmmm.... just gave myself an idea though... hold that thought.... might be an update tonight...

Gods I'll never get to painting these things!

 Gitsplitta wrote:

Gods I'll never get to painting these things!

The joy of building mate, the joy of building

R

Hahahaha! I am finally the one who made more work for Gits.


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BTW...I still expect you to be attending the Good Bad and Ugly this Saturday down in Milwaukee. Don't let your fellow uglies down.

I forgot about the tourney. Unfortunately I promised Thing 1 that I'd take him skiing on Saturday as a reward for getting his school work done. Tourney will have to do without me.

Fatherhood comes first.

Mounts are now magnetized and flush with the hull. My solution was elegantly simple. I am (just to point it out), a genius. I say this not out of pomposity, but to spare the feelings of those who seek to emulate my geniosity and fail. It's OK, it's not your fault.




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Hey! Somebody's Mantis Warrior army made Spikey Bits "Armies on Parade" feature! http://blog.spikeybits.com/2012/12/mantis-warriors-take-flight-wargamescon.html

Oooh Thats a pretty sweet Rhino. Tranquility pattern looks oddly good on it! Though why he used a Vindi dozer is beyond me

Nice to see someone else go with the old school colors and insignia.

OH, priming is done on the land speeders. Yay... paint!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Nice to see someone else go with the old school colors and insignia.

OH, priming is done on the land speeders. Yay... paint!

Yeah, though to be honest, while I love the Mantis style chainswords you do Gits, I love that character model with the two backhanded blades...

Edit: He ignores the eyeballs on his models just like me

Same here Alf, i love the jointed chainswords, but the double backhanded blades are cool on that guy...he does remind me of a witch elf though, and not necessarily in a good way... as well as something else...

yay paint!

I believe the backwards arms are from an old DE character.... I do agree that the Mantis mk chainswords are ingenious and spiffy.

 Snrub wrote:
I believe the backwards arms are from an old DE character.... I do agree that the Mantis mk chainswords are ingenious and spiffy.

I know, I'd kill for a Mantis Warrior HQ that uses "lighting claws" with some cool OSL on the Manti mk chainswords to represent that.

Sort of like this?

Hey Gitz, you should (tm) the term Mantis Mk Chainswords. If you don't someone else will. That someone else being me...


What about this for a special character Alf?


+++++

Mantis Warrior Character *Insert name here* - 130 points.
WS - 6
BS - 5
S - 4
4 - 4
W - 4
I - 6
A - 4+D3
Ld - 10
Sv - 3+/4+

Unit Type
Independant Character

Weapons & Wargear.
The Mantis Claws
Mantis Helm
Power Armour
Iron Halo
Jump pack

Special Rules
Gory Demise

~~~~~

The Mantis Claws.
An exquisite pair of Master crafted Mantis Mk Chainswords used by *Insert name here* to deadly effect. The sheer amount of blows brought to bear belies their strange appearence and many are the foes that underestimated the speed at which these awkward looking weapons flick out to ensnare an unlucky victim.
Mantis Claws - S:User AP:- Melee, Shred, +D3 Attacks (include in profile), Master crafted.

Mantis Helm.
A special helm crafted for *Insert name here* with an inbuilt hand flamer that fires a corrosive gout of acid. Its bulbous eye lenses also contain many advanced telemetry readouts and advanced optic settings.
Mantis Helm - Range: Template S:3 AP:3 -Assault 1.
The Mantis Helm also confers the Night Vision rule and renders the use immune to blind attacks.

Gory Demise.
Rather then chase down his beaten foes *Insert name here* instead rips the head of one of his vanquished foes in a horrendously gory fashion that often cause nearby squads to retreat rather then risk facing him in combat next.
*Insert name here* may not make sweeping advances. Any enemy units within 6 inches and with line of sight to *Insert name here* must also take a leadership test or fall back as well.

+++++

Also rules for standard Mantis Chainswords

A vicious pattern of chainswords used exclusively by the Mantis Warriors chapter. An enemy may think he perfectly safe up the back of a raging melee. That is until a Mantis Chainsword lashes out and catches him in its vice like grip. Death is all but certain after this.
Mantis Chainsword - S:User AP:- Melee, Shred, Unwiedly.

+++++


Oh Gitz that dude is awesome looking. Love the wings on the jump pack.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Sort of like this?

Take that awesome power weapon voodoo that you doo so well, and apply it to these chainswords:

That is one of my favorite models, Gits.

That tranquility veteran is pretty damn awesome. Even if he has started to fall to chaos.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Mounts are now magnetized and flush with the hull. My solution was elegantly simple. I am (just to point it out), a genius. I say this not out of pomposity, but to spare the feelings of those who seek to emulate my geniosity and fail. It's OK, it's not your fault.

They look really good and I'll be stealing/reapplying it( as they call it in the Corp. world). Nice technical fix.

Yes, you are both pretty and smart.. and we think your the " Justin Beiber" of the modeling world. We heard you the first time! Now go to sleep.

SO there is more than 2 people in the world who play and or paint Mantis warriors!

- He who's job is to re-ground you - SL Praise Huron!

same here!!!

He's the Pompitous of 40K.

Excellent...
If were designing special characters for him, someone will need to do an epic poem or saga like musical number or add a camio in a sparkly vampire move!... Not I of course.

Git... post some pics soon or we'll spiral into madness!

ps, Praise Huron!

@Snrub: what's the Mk stand for? Absolutely love your ideas. I always thought the mantis swords should be rending (is that the same as shredding?)

@SL: I can't believe no one else called me out with the "pics or it didn't happen" line. Will get some taken and up tonight. I love you guys but you're way too trusting!

The MW Vanguard will get done as soon as the new SM codex is released and I can see what the rules allow for wargear wise.

@Brian: Some people call me the space cowboy, (yeah). Some call me the gangster of love....

 Gitsplitta wrote:
@Snrub: what's the Mk stand for? Absolutely love your ideas. I always thought the mantis swords should be rending (is that the same as shredding?)

@SL: I can't believe no one else called me out with the "pics or it didn't happen" line. Will get some taken and up tonight. I love you guys but you're way too trusting!

The MW Vanguard will get done as soon as the new SM codex is released and I can see what the rules allow for wargear wise.

@Brian: Some people call me the space cowboy, (yeah). Some call me the gangster of love....

mk, like mkV armor...

So they're Mantis Mk Chainswords... though technically like the Baal Preds, it should probably be a Mantis STC Chainsword I believe

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Mounts are now magnetized and flush with the hull. My solution was elegantly simple. I am (just to point it out), a genius. I say this not out of pomposity, but to spare the feelings of those who seek to emulate my geniosity and fail. It's OK, it's not your fault.

Show up to the shop or it didn't happen. Yeah, my creativity amazes even me sometimes.

I have a spare set of Drazar arms if you'd like a go at something similar. All yours, just say the word.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
@Snrub: what's the Mk stand for? Absolutely love your ideas. I always thought the mantis swords should be rending (is that the same as shredding?)

Yeah Alf has it right. Mk is just the short hand of mark. As in Mk X "Hell's teeth" Chainsword or Mk VII "Errent" Power armour. So really a Mantis chainblade would be like a Mk XV "Mantis" Chainsword or something.

Also "Shred" allows rerolls to wound, Rending causes automatic wounds on a 6.

Rending causes it to be ap2, not auto wound. Against non vehicles anyways.