Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

If you have spare termintaors, consider their regular armoured fist instead of the powerfist; the size should be more appropriate. If they're relics, pimping them might not be a good idea, that's true

I was planning to go down that route for the commander. I may have a few spare hands my Terminators became Meganobz as I was doing a Dethskull army anyway I'll have to consider it.

Just a few quick shots of Team Wraith consisting of Commander Frank Bane and Operative Stan Wise. Heavily inspired by Migsula's twins these 2 Ratlings are going to be based like this to be used as Sly Marbo.....The models are the Hasslefree Kindred Lieutenant Freddy Bagshot and Sergeant Stan Gammage. Hope you enjoy the humour!
General Shot

Shot focused on Commander Frank Bane

Shot focused on Operative Stan Wise

The Base contains a sign made of all things of the brush from within a Glue Pot lid some plasticard and 2 Imperial Vehicle Decorations. I reckon its some kind of roadside shrine like those you get in the Med where theres been a road crash or something similiar.

Hehe, I get it! Fromo and Ham!

Ok I'm currently based at my parents for a while as I'm working for Cambridge Archaeology Unit this means that I'll be painting less and focussing more on individual models than squads. This job should last a while and so updates will be far more sporadic. I've recently acquired some of the old IG commissars and am looking forward to getting them started. I'm currently beginning working on the Kindred going for a British Khaki look for them. I've also found a blog which may help those of you who like me have bills to pay and need to makje your hobby bucks work http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/. Theres some good tips here for the gamer on a budget like myself.

While being apart from the army has made the project progress far slower than I'd like here is the first of my Hasslefree Kindred. I decided to stick with the "Tommy" theme in the painting colours going for a World War British army look. He was lovely to paint and I'm happy with the simplicity of the scheme. Hope you like him.

On more weighty matters I've been rereading the classic Index Astartes series of articles (back when the type was half the size and therefore there was twice the content and fluff articles with substance). One of the things which have caught my eye was the mentioning of the world of Masali (sounds African to me) with a arid climate (makes sense with the Zulus). This would make sense of the heraldry of the Ultramarines being a theme, as well as the attempts to follow codex doctrine and the realm of Ultramar produces hundreds of regiments for the Imperial army.....However I do feel they mgiht be too primitive for citizens of civilised Ultramar and this would also mean I'd have to totally rejig my thinking about the background. Does anybody have any opinions about this at all?

Just wanted to chime in that I absolutely love this idea, and I'm really impressed with how well you pulled off combining the Zulu kits with Imperial Guard components.

Thanks a lot Skaerkrow sorry to be so late replying.
This project has been on the backburner as I work away from home but should start again in the new year. Still with scratch built tanks as I recently lost my job and spent a lot of money acquiring a driving license. Unfortunately I still need a car to go with it........Fortunately I've got lots of stuff to be getting on with. I've still had time for a bit of painting however and heres the Ratling squad.

The scheme works well and I might eventually acquire some of Warlord Games WW2 British and do another Guard Army in this style. What do you think?

I've finished the 2nd Assault Squad this week. It's got another Copplestone Witch Doctor as a Commissar and both him and the Sergeant have TAG Maquahuitl as power weapons.

For this army I want to get it up to 1500 points to do that I have a Special Weapons Squad, Command HQ, 2 Veteran Squads and 2 Chimeras to build as well as 2 Lascannons 2 Regular Squads and a Command Section to paint. The Chimeras will both be scratch built using cardstock. I'd like to get this done by the Student Nationals in April. I'm also planning to get a lot of terrain made for that day. After that I'm unsure whether to continue adding more to these guys or pick another set of Historicals to convert to IG.....

Well the Special Weapons Squads assembled and I'm focusing on the Command HQ which is fun this means I should soon have the 3rd company fully assembled and I'll begin work on the veteran squads. The tanks are going on the back burner as I've found some nice Kan kits and a possible Battlewagon based on the Star Wars Sand Crawler which will give me some practice before going back to the Imperial Designs. I'm also plannign to redo them in a more formall dazzle camouflage scheme (see this article for what I mean the Edward Wardsworth painting in particular showcases the desired effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Dazzle-ships_in_Drydock_at_Liverpool.jpg
I've also finished Team Wraith my count as Sly Marbo currently I'm planning to use him, my 5 ratlings and the Scout Squad as a cheating kill, team because it seems right, what do people think about this?
Heres the model which I'm rather happy with. This shot gives an idea of the pose

While this shows Officer Frank Bane

and this Sergeant Stan Wise

The Hasslefree Kindred come highly recommended as they're lovely characterful sculpts and when I brought the model from them at Triples they gave me free sweets......

Lovin'it! Any chance of a group shot?

Thanks for the interest Commissar Khaine. Of the army not soon I've got to find another arm for the Commander I had a left Terminator arm when I needed a right one. School boy error and because of the models pose I can't just change the arms around to fit. I might get one done after the commanders done depends when I get the arm if it's before I do the next big batch of spray painting sure after I've sprayed them however it won't be worthwhile until I've painted them up, we'll see. Of the Kindred sure heres one;

After annoying myself with the Commanders arms I gave myself a treat and made one of the Rogue Trader Commissars up. What happened to his right arm I don't know but I gave him the SM hand Power Fist again only this one has knuckles they don't show well in the photograph which is a shame and neither does his stern expression which is great.

Ah well, we'll have to wait for the whole group shot then . Commisar's looking' good and don't worry you can just make out the expression on his face!

Thats good yeah it's going to be awhile as I couldn't find the right arm or a cheap enough doner figure at the FLGS today however I'll probably be able to scrounge one through the club soon enough. If worst comes to the worst I'll bitz site it although Ebaying a Terminator Squad works out about the same. This means however I'll be getting the rest of the 2nd platoon undercoated tomorrow. Bright side is only another 21 figures and their assembled......

Hi

You've got some great positions on here, and some neat ideas. Consider the space marine hand/power fist nabbed.

Great to see the scale of the Wargames stuff...as I ordered 3 packs of the British line...if they ever arrive. And I am highly jealous of your Hasslefree (right?) halflings/kindred! They are on my list as Commisars for my ratlings.

Anyway. Just out of interest how long do you spend painting each model?

I never actually however sit down to a long sustained painting session so its impossible to say.They sit on my desk till they get done I generally have 4 batches (each is a tank, 4/5 basic infantry, monstrous creature, scenery, cavalryman or character) on my desk and paint a colour on each batch, usually different colours when ever I feel like it. This makes it impossible to tell how long I spend painting a figure. I'd guess ignoring drying time 2 hours a batch or so at most. This system means I have stuff at different stages all the time so I have the motivation of finishing a model regularly! Of course this is only practical because I can leave my paints out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and feel free to nick the fist idea I probably nicked it of someone here earlier can't remember who though. Good luck with the Wargames Factory order I know there going through trouble at the minute. The Hasslefree/Kindred are lovely some of the niftiest models I've seen.

Sorted out my commanders Power Fist. A mate kindly provided me with the part just after I won a sprue with the bit on Ebay. Ah well c'est la vie more bits for later. So here's the Command HQ.

I've also painted another rank and file squad. This also shows of some of the cheap basic terrain I've been mass producing for the club. Guess theres less than a quids worth of terrain here! Cheap Pizzas are a wonderful source of foam board ideal for terrain you just have to undercoat it by hand.

I'm looking forward to getting these guys painted and working out lists with the codex once i've got these and the 2nd platoon done I've got more than enough for a 1500pt list. With the extra veteran squads, penal squads and auxilia the army should chime into about 2000pts. Once I've got this done I'm not going to add any more Zulus instead I'm going to go with one of several options. I'd appreciate peoples advice on which;
Empire from Warlord Games/Perry Twins Figures (Simple and an army I've been promising myself since they started doing historical plastics)
Adeptus Mechanicus Witch Hunters (Unfortunately these need the Guard Allies rules to work, planning to use Wargames Factory Great Coats as Skitarii tie in well with this lot.)
WW2 British guard (Warlord Games plastics IG weapons similiar to this actually)
Napoleonic British Guard (Perry Twins and Victrix models lots of Rough Riders and Highlander veteran squads)
Currently

I've finished the Special Weapon Squad armed with Meltaguns. The Lascannon squad is almost there as well. I've continued using the TAG Meltaguns as I like the look and I reckon their recognisable enough. The fact I brought these before I found out about the Meltagun part pack didn't help matters either!

I'm almost there which feels odd.

Looking good. I know Victrix has some nice minis, but I can't really compare to the others, so I'll trust your judgement

Ah it'll probably be more a case of which first my current vague plan is to work out a rgeiment structure for each like I did with the Islandlwanda and then do a regular line company with supporting elements.

Ok I'm going to bung these up here although I'm not sure where they should go. Possibly in their own blog we'll see.
Recently Dave Graffam who makes some nice simple cardstock scenery released his first game, Solid State Interception. I wasn't that interested at first but then he released a free pack which I downloaded. I had some vague idea of using them as Ork ships for BFG or maybe Ork Fighta Bommas for Aeronautica Imperialis. This morning I assembled my first and while the weapons aren't to my taste a bit of plasticard bodging soon made some agressive Kannons. I then had a look at the price for the rest and at £1.80 for a full game and another fighter design I decided to treat myself. This is brilliant as while I really enjoy Aeronautica Imperialis the fact its Forge World has always put me off. I don't want to invest that much into a game I'll only play a few times a year. Fortunately I have mates to borrow the bases from. So have a look at this http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=87187&filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2985
Heres the first attempt before painting.

Heres my monthly post I've got the Astropath painted up and he's been frustrating. The Wizards of the Coast prepaints face is a poor sculpt and my painting hasn't improved it after finishing the model I realised it would do better as a mask. The model got dropped several times leading to a lot of regluing causing havoc. Originally I was going to paint the clothes white but realised it would look far to much like a Klansman and went for Blue. This model has made me appreciate the harder material of GW plastics far more than I thought as it gives far crisper detail.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
It however served its main purpose which was to give e more confidence when I tackle the Beholder for my Beastmen. So I guess its not bad for something I acquired free.

This is the last of my regular guard squards. I have the platoon command squad and commissar to do and thats it for the platoon.

For the army I have the platoon command squad, Command hq & 2 Veteran Squads to do as well as at least 2 scratch built chimeras. In the future, probably autumn time, as I've just finished a short term contract and moneys tight, I'll probably start another regiment on this type of base and use them together in apocalypse games. Looks wise I'm currently planning either to use Warlord Games WW2 British or Wargames Factorys Persians as Tallarns. However I'll put this off until I've played several games with the Zulus and maybe even until after I take them to the 2012 Student Nationals. This year I ran Uncharted Seas for the Geek of Steel which gave me far more respect for the simplicity of Spartan Games mechanic, within half an hour I could explain the rules and people could start gaming. OK, I wasn't utterly stringent with them getting the rules perfectly correct, just so long as both players played by the same rules and were having fun I wasn't going to change anything in the middle of a game. But everybody enjoyed it and that was the main thing. I'm fairly certain you couldn't do that with many games.

Now for something slightly unusual a piece of fluff the beginning of an overriding narrative which will hopefully dominate my 40k for a while. The planet is Ladysmith the place is the mountains above Rourke's Drip. Enjoy!

34th Tekla Well X Rourke’s Drip 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
It was a dark smoggy day even within the mountains. These grey dead ashy wastes were utterly different to the green verdant plains of home. The gritty ashy gravels felt completely alien as well. Mondli shuddered as he lent within the trenches around the well house. The trenches made a 4 pointed star around the tall bronze machinery of the pumping house. Within it dwelt thirty of the strangest creatures Mondli had ever seen. For all his elders had tried to convince him otherwise at the core of his soul Mondli doubted their humanity. He frowned their regiment was stretched thin. There was no way his squad could hold if they were seriously attacked and they were isolated in this desolate mountain range. Nobody knew quite where the ‘Nids from the spore had ended up and he’d heard legends about the Hungry Ones and worse the veteran’s tales about their encounters on Cobris.
He’d never quite realise what happened. He’d been alert and paying a hunters attention to his surroundings. For ages all that could be heard was the quiet wheezing of the Derrick going up and down, and then suddenly, behind him, was screaming and the most horrific fleshy tearing sound. He swiftly turned around beating the alarm signal on his shield. Then he saw it and screamed as his friend Lindelani drooped sliding down from the claws of the monster. The thing was twice his size tall and lithe like a giant Praying Mantis. Its mouth was ringed with tentacles which seemed to sniff the air hunting for him. But by far the worst thing was the giant blood stained claws dripping with Lindelani’s remains. They were at least the size of him and as he watched the skin began to shift changing colour. He couldn’t grasp how it had snuck so close to them. Then fortunately his mind shut down and his training took over as he brought his Lasgun to his shoulder and began to fire. Placed shots. Hunter’s shots. It worked the beast began to head towards him away from the well house. He carried on firing; it carried on advancing, slowly and surely. Obviously in some pain but not enough to stop it.
Mondli was relieved to see the rest of his squad begin to come out onto the roof of the Well house. Mandla and Kwanele began to set up the squads’ missile launcher as Sifiso shot a Krak grenade into the monstrosity. It screamed badly hurt its ichor mixing with Lindelani’s gore. Mondli began to relax with the rest of the squad in a good position the monster was dead. It might kill him but it would fail.
He never understood what happened next. Where once there was a single monstrosity suddenly there was three. How had he failed his comrades so? How had he missed them clamber up onto the roof and hide behind where the squad had appeared? With the monsters so close and among them in a flash his friends never had a chance. The monsters made short brutal work of them. With their screams in his ears, seeing his failure he charged the beast shooting as he came. He never saw the claw that killed him.

Well I've finished the Command Squad for 2nd Platoon. Here's Lt Wahsi painted up.

For some reason he always looks slightly out of focus compared to his men.
The Commissar Heinrich Gruben came out rather well. I especially like the idea of the power knuckles.

The Squad as a whole including the Meltagunner and Batman

I've also finished the Veteran Squad.

The 3 Plasma Gunners use the TAG M60 E1 Machine Gun and Cadian Commlinks. The Sergeant received a TAG Socom Pistol and a Dirz Sword for his Power Weapon. Last but not least they are joined by Mister T. I just couldn't resist adding one of the Goliath gangers to the squad.....
The Lascannons on the painting desk although the focus at the moment is getting the Bestigor done for my Beastmen.

Got bored today and couldn't resist assembling another Rogue Trader era Commissar the arm went before I got it so he got an old favourite of mine the Atilian Chain Sabre.

Oh and on my other 40k blog the Conclave of Hrin theirs a Techpriest retinue that will often join this army. Check them out here
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/279068.page

34th Tekla Rourke’s Drip Defence Command HQ. Communications Room. Alpha Complex
“Emperor’s Balls”, swore Coms Sergeant Sithembile within the command bunker at Rourke’s Drip, he turned around to the private beside him, “Fetch the Colonel and tell him its bad news”. The private rushed to obey.
Within five minutes Colonel Eon entered the room, “What’s the matter Sithembile?”
“A message from the supply convoy they’ve reached Well Ten and found nobody there, there are signs of weapons discharges but no bodies, Neither the civvies or the garrison.”
“gak”, Eon ran through what the supply convoy consisted of 10 Armed 8x8’s and two squads from seventh company and winced.
“Right first of all dispatch two squads from First and a squad from Tenth in the Valkyries and order the convoy to remain where it is. We’ll send Lieutenant Jovan and the rest of Second platoon of First in Chimera’s to back up the convoy and cover it for the rest of the route.”
“Yes Sir, I’ve already contacted the rest of the major garrisons and I’ve contacted all the minor garrisons in the area and I’m just about to start on the others, Do you want me to contact the Commissar and the Magos? None of the others are out of the loop and all are reporting situation normal”.
“The Commissar certainly, the Magos hmmph we should but not quite yet, let’s work out the response within the regiment before we start dealing with the locals”.
“They’ve lost men to”
“Until we’ve checked out the site fully we can’t be certain of it”.
“What do you thinks happening?”
“Given that Bio-ship dropped pods last week and we still haven’t isolated where in the mountains they fell I’m hoping its Tyranid activity.”
“Hoping to face the Hungry One’s!” Sithembile gave his commander a look as if he was going insane he remembered Cobris it was there he’d taken the injuries which forced him to work in this rear echelon position. In some regiments the look would have qualified him for execution for disrespect of a senior officer it was that blatant. Eon shuddered, “Better them that an embedded Genestealer cult”. It was too horrible to contemplate that. Ladysmith was the Imperial Guard coordination base for this sector, almost a hundred guard regiments ran through it in a year and that was ignoring the civilian trade. It was a linchpin in the astrological map of the region having at least a dozen warp currents running through it. Sithembile looked confused at him, then shuddered and concentrated on the task in hand. Both remembered the cull after the campaign on Cobris when a quarter of the entire Army Group had been slaughtered due to the taint.

I've also got the final Lascannon Team done.

Here he is with the rest of the Squad

This means I've got 2nd Platoon complete and I'll fairly soon have the 3rd Company finished. Only 1 more veteran squad to assemble and then the armies done.

More fluff, tomorrow some substance I'm waiting for the Bodyguard to dry enough to photo him...

34th Tekla Well X Rourke’s Drip 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
It was with great relief that Sergeant Bongani heard the powerful roar of the Valkyrie engines as they began to approach. With a deft touch they began to land outside the perimeter of the Well house. The problem was now for somebody else to deal with. It had been an unpleasant hour’s wait for the reinforcements but he’d used the time to do a complete sweep of the facility and then placed his heavy weapons on the roof of the building while his men took up positions in the trenches. The 8x8’s were crowded within the perimeter. The local crew looking terrified, however they had not objected about the plan either and had shown admirable discipline for a bunch of PDF cog botherers. To be honest his regulars weren’t looking much better. As he watched the three squads quickly disembarked and as soon as they were done the Valkyries returned to hovering. The two Veteran squads of First Company and the Scouts of Tenth quickly advanced in a good fast lope up the scree slope to the Well House. Swiftly they clambered through the trench line and then the Veterans began to split up into fire teams and reinforce his forces positions. The Scouts began to split up into hunting pairs looking for tracks. He frowned they wouldn’t be happy about him calling the 8x8’s within the perimeter as it would have obliterated most of the tracks however frankly he was more concerned with keeping his force a coherent whole. He only had ten more men than Seventh of Sixth which obviously hadn’t been enough to hold the same position against the foe long enough for a Vox call. He’d therefore decided to make sure that the Heavy Stubbers of the 8x8’s were concentrated in the hope they could stem the tide. Grimacing he looked at the stern worried faces of his fellow Sergeants Katlego and Nkosana from the First and Tau from the Tenth as they headed towards him. Bongani saluted the veteran Sergeants and they saluted back.
“Anything else to report since your last call?” said Katlego the senior of the three.
“No, still no sign of them I’ve swept the Wellhouse fairly well but as my responsibility was for the convoy I’ve not looked outside of the complex”
“Is the sign any good?”
“No there seems to be the heaviest signs of combat on the Wellhouse roof. Although there are scattered blood patches throughout the complex. Only two out here which seems to imply it happened last night or early this morning”.
“I’ll have a look about” said Tau.
“Good job, by the way”, you didn’t panic and held your force together. Your defensive position looks sound. What we will do next is consolidate the squads back together, although your heavy weapons should remain up on the roof top. While we each hold a trench line Tenth will conduct a thorough sweep. Hopefully they’ll be done by the time Jovan gets here with the Chimera’s and you can finish the run, wouldn’t want the men to run out of grub now would we. We’ll bug out in the Valkyries no point in holding a damaged facility.”
“Sounds fine to me, the Mechanicus should be aware it seems to be still working”
“We’ll still leave it I think the Colonel is planning to concentrate are strength more.”
“Do you reckon it was the Hungry Ones?”
“Almost certainly this smells of them to me, I can remember on Cobris we kept on loosing isolated forces like this for a few weeks before their attacks. Chances are it was a Mantis Stalker pack. Nasty monsters they’ve got a chameleon effect like the Karma lizards back home. Now get started and I want the convoy to be ready to go as soon as the LT gets here”.

Here he is the Bodyguard Dumasani

He's one of 2 bodyguards I've made using the Copplestone castings Ngoni Chieftains. These both receive the longer shields and chainswords to make them distinct. The blue died hair is due to their respect for the Ultramarines. The Veterans and Comand HQ will all have blue on the cloth and shields. This should make them recognisable during games. Been doing some thoughts about the next project currently had the oddball idea of doing a Fallen Dark Angel army. Several of my regular opponents play DA or at least Green Marines so thats fun. Any ideas on which Codex? I'd also want to play up the enigmatism of the Fallen.......

Got the Master of Ordnance painted up. Nice and subdued in heavy camo. The model is the Griffon gunner.