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Little bit of a painting update: Playing with my scouts reminded that even though I've had them for over a decade, they aren't even all fully painted. So I'm taking a short break away from my Ven Dread to at least finish their basic paint job. Nothing complex (these figs all have a very basic paint job and I'm not inclined to completely re-do them at the moment), but I'll finish painting them, touch up the cloaks and guns, drill the barrels and paint the lenses properly & finally finish flocking the bases. Since they will be a consistant part of my regular force... it seems prudent to spend a little time making them look decent, if not particularly ornate. I'll post a pic of the squads when they're complete & will probably continue working on the dread at the same time. Be nice to have both of these projects completed & off the table.

I've thought about using Lego Katanas for Marines.

That dude looks great BH. Love the Predicon logo

Well, I just ordered a couple of "weapons packs" from museum miniatures in the UK & "The War Store" sells 28mm nagi's that I can either us that way or trim down into katanas. But they're out of stock at the moment.

So we'll see how those all work. Of course these will be normally proportioned weapons... not the ridiculously large ones that GW uses... but what the heck... it's worth a shot.

The one I used was from the Sanguinary guard kit and just had part of the hand guard carved off, expensive way to get them though.

Yup, though it does look really nice!

BLACKHAND wrote:wazikashi

what? do you try too say WAKASASHI? i never heard of wazikashi might be a other name but i never heard off them. and i traine bujikan (the original samurai war techniekse). This has however gave me an idea what if the Inquisitors have a small deamon hunter attachment. you could give them mantis like wargear. you could give them a naginata as there count as power weapon. but thats my 2 cents

Well guys... I hold in my hands a whole bunch of brand new Mantis Warrior shoulder pads... *grin*. And so it begins.

Yayyyyyyyyy!

fatty wrote:

BLACKHAND wrote:wazikashi

what? do you try too say WAKASASHI? i never heard of wazikashi might be a other name but i never heard off them. and i traine bujikan (the original samurai war techniekse). This has however gave me an idea what if the Inquisitors have a small deamon hunter attachment. you could give them mantis like wargear. you could give them a naginata as there count as power weapon. but thats my 2 cents

In France, wakizashi are short blades, (and usually paired with a katana, IIRC?), I guess BH swapped the "z" and the "k"?

I suppose I should paint one up to try out the color scheme. I just bought my fist box of regular marines in 20 years yesterday so I'd have some "modern" armor to use for my troops (vanguard and such). I guess I was a bit shocked at the price normal dudes command, but I bit the bullet and paid up anyway.

Indeed, there has been a many rises in prices these last years... If guess it's the same for smokers, the increase in price won't prevent them from buying cigarettes!!!

Amen to that! *Lights up a space marine*

Looking forward to some standard MW green goodness.

dont know if its already been mentioned, i was looking through an ancient wd today, the one with the original badab article, have you thought about doing some in the tranquility campaign sniper colours? yellow with black, i could upload a pic if you havnt seen it. anyway nice plog, i like the helmets

Badass.

@Calibanite Lion: Hey there. I'm painting up my sternguard and my venerable dread as Tranquility Vets... they don't really work with the fluff as scouts any more, plus I want to stay true to the original artwork. My scouts are essentially very new recruits that were made available to the Mantis Warriors apon their return from their 100 year crusade and after losing their home world to the Space Sharks. If you look in my Mantis Warrior gallery you can see the sternguard I've built and painted so far.

I should have the prototype shoulder pad painted up this evening... so don't touch that dial!

OH man! I am excited to see new MW!

The Chapterhouse shoulder pads arrived today!!


So. Here are some shots and a few comments.

1. The castings are excellent. The only clean up is on the very bottom edge of the pads... takes 15 seconds with a flat file.
2. They look fantastic! Much better even than the photos of the greens.
3. They appear much larger than a normal pad, but that is in part due to the chain around the outside and the fact that they are a little less curved than a normal plastic pad. The lack of curve is easily remedied by wrapping the pad in a single layer of felt and gently squeezing the sides with a pair of pliers. See photos below.


L-R: pad straight out of the package, normal GW pad, pad after "crimping" and painting.


Shot comparing "crimped" pad to normal. It's slightly less open on the inside but I crimped another unpainted pad and was able to open up the inside very easily with a dremel. However in most circumstances I don't think that will be necessary.

And the money shot... (this was taken BEFORE I'd crimped this pad). However crimping the fully painted pad did not damage it at all.


Explanation of the pad colors...

Unlike the original GW design, this head is based off of a real photo of a preying mantis head, stylized a bit but without the ridiculous mandibles. Natural colored head w/ traditional red eyes. As purple is the ecclesiastical color for penitence, I used that for the field (as the MW's are trying to earn their way back to respectability after the Badab Rebellion). Also to further show their loyalty and fealty to the Emperor, their pads are edged with a golden chain, similar to those worn by medieval knights to show their fealty to their liege lord.

Looking really awesome! Love seeing a different SM chapter!

Any chance of a photo of all the Mantis together so far?

those are awesome shoulder pads i like how they are painted there.

have you thought about making other shoulder pads with other images of mantis on them? maybe a side view of one, kinda like the winged shoulder pads BA have?

@manoknok: Unfortunately the various parts are still on opposite sides of the planet (US & New Zealand). However Blackhand has sent me a shipment of helmets so as soon as I get them I'll be assembling a full Mantis Warrior. Unfortunately there aren't many actual Mantis Warriors painted as of yet... mainly because I'm waiting for parts. I have 3 dreads, 20 scouts and 4 sternguard painted (or re-painted as the case may be). I'll finish the sternguard first, then move on to other projects within the chapter.

@sageheart: Nope... paying for two sets of custom shoulder pads to be made (regular & terminator) is enough. Besides, it's a chapter badge. Heraldry should always appear in functionally the same recognizable form.

Hey Gitsplitta!

That great! I have a similar problem with stuff being in the Uk and the Philippines...

Looking forward to seeing a army photo shot when every thing is done!

that makes sense! i just thought it would be a cool thing to have for vets or Assault marines/honor guard, something hahaa.

those pads are still great, i keep lookking back at them!

Understood... and yes, it would be neat to have some other pads for special units, but I think at this point I'm more interested in some continuity. Nearly every model is going to be custom built anyway so their will be plenty of variety in the chapter. Be nice to have something consistent holding the force together thematically.

I'll try to get one of the termie pads painted tomorrow so you can see that too.

that makes sense. how many pads are you getting? do you know yet?

Yggdrasil wrote:

fatty wrote:

BLACKHAND wrote:wazikashi

what? do you try too say WAKASASHI? i never heard of wazikashi might be a other name but i never heard off them. and i traine bujikan (the original samurai war techniekse). This has however gave me an idea what if the Inquisitors have a small deamon hunter attachment. you could give them mantis like wargear. you could give them a naginata as there count as power weapon. but thats my 2 cents

In France, wakizashi are short blades, (and usually paired with a katana, IIRC?), I guess BH swapped the "z" and the "k"?

in Holland and Japan too my skaven warlord has all three weapons ie Katana , wakasahi and a tanto (knife). he holds the katana in his right paw the wakasashi in his left paw and the tanto by the tail.

back on topic.
love those shoulder pads and the pruple realy breaks up the green and yellow without disturbing them

@Sage: I have 100 normal pads and 25 termie pads. Not that my army needs that many but this way I have plenty for trades, conversions and future projects.

Wow, absolutely amazing progress. The pads are a great addition and the Dread is shocking.

Any chance of a shot of all the completed models together? Bet they look fantastic!

@ Gitsplitta Great work on the Pads, the painting lookds fantastic..

I thought you had some regular MW painted in the green, are you changing them then...

I love how you said your gonna convert each model as much as possible, im the same love making my marines my own as much as i can, so there sort of unique..

Ive just uploaded mt custom built Sternguard on my blog if you wanna check them out bud, there not painted yet but you can get a good look at the build...

Jim..

@Ifalna: I'll take a shot of everything that I consider "finished" when I get the scouts and Ven Dread finished... hopefully the next couple of days.

@jimmy: Well, I've had a Mantis Warrior army for over 20 years, but the paint job on the figures was very basic... just a gloss dark green with no shading or highlighting. Looked good enough on the table but nothing special. Since I've decided to rebuild the entire army, I've given or traded most of my old figures away, but I did save one original beakie tac squad for nostalgia's sake. The repainting/rebuilding has been a very slow process as I have two children also into 40k so much of time is spent helping them with their armies or painting figures for trade. The only "new" infantry I have painted are 4 sternguard (Tranquility snipers) and my one prototype in regular MW green. That plus 3 dreadnoughts are pretty much all I have to show for 45 pages worth of blog...

... boy that doesn't sound very good... I just depressed myself.

Gitsplitta wrote:@Sage: I have 100 normal pads and 25 termie pads. Not that my army needs that many but this way I have plenty for trades, conversions and future projects.

wow that's great! really gives you a ton of stuff to work with!!