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Viterbi wrote:Welcome back and cool terrain piece, love the combination of terrain kits and scratchbuilt.
Already excited for the battle shots!

Thank you, Viterbi. I enjoy your stuff as well.

Captain Brown wrote:Great Drop Trooper force and wonderful scratch Build Riddle.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks, Capt. Brown. Your stuff is a huge inspiration.

So here is a full army photo as of the end of 2020.



You can see they have borrowed a Lightning Strike Fighter from my White Scars for some tank-busting air support.

The rest is a mix of FW Elysians and Anvil Industries Republicans, sadly both out of print, and a few other misc. models. Thankfully I have a few more FW units in the closet to assemble and paint so I can keep growing this army. I also have some other third party units to add, such as some recon bikers that I am working on now.

You will also notice they have a Medusa Siege Gun. Artillery is not a normal part of a Drop Trooper regiment but that gun was built for a specific city defense scenario and gets used when they are defending a fortification.

More to come.

This was a great thread to binge. That army is amazing!

A real shame ForgeWorld axed the Elysians, but you're right; they're far too realistic looking for GW's grimdark aesthetic.

 KidCthulhu wrote:
This was a great thread to binge. That army is amazing!

A real shame ForgeWorld axed the Elysians, but you're right; they're far too realistic looking for GW's grimdark aesthetic.

Thanks, Kid. It’s great to know someone read the thread and enjoyed the models.

Here is an action shot from a game with my brother a while back. The Xhorik 87th Drop Troops regiment Third Company supports the White Scars as they defend the walls of the Kozar city of Berat. This squad of second platoon makes a combat jump from their Valkyrie in order to help secure an objective as Traitor forces breach the gate. (Part of our Horus Heresy campaign. Plenty of full battle reports on our blog.)

Cool overview of your army and that action shot is amazing!

Great action and Army shots. I love the bloke about to jump out the back! The new and old terrain looks great too

Great to see this blog back! I'm surprised the Elysian fits so well in the back of the Valk.

Exalted the army shot Riddle.

Cheers,

CB

Viterbi wrote:Cool overview of your army and that action shot is amazing!

Thank you, Viterbi. To me, nothing beats playing a game with painted models on painted terrain with a good friend.

gobert wrote:Great action and Army shots. I love the bloke about to jump out the back! The new and old terrain looks great too

Gobert - thanks for the feedback. There is just something I love about these guys making combat drops out of their Valkyries - despite the fact that they are fairly useless in the game and mostly just die. That is why you have to get a photo of the jump - it is often the highlight of the game for them!

fingol23 wrote:Great to see this blog back! I'm surprised the Elysian fits so well in the back of the Valk.

Fingol23, thanks. The Elysians are a little tall for 28mm, but they are much thinner than the Cadians and Catachans and overall they fit the scale much better, especially with most of them being ducking, running, or crouching in some way. To me, it is sad to see the continual scale creep from GW as it makes many of the classic vehicles that I love look silly. The Valkyrie and Elysians fit well together.

Captain Brown wrote:Exalted the army shot Riddle.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks, Captain. Someday I hope they rival yours in size and in their ability to inspire others.

On to new things...

I love bikes in 40k and always have. I have had Evil Sunz ork warbikers since 2nd edition. I was never too tempted to paint any space marines... until the plastic bikes came out. Now I have a force of White Scars for Horus Heresy. It always seemed strange that the Imperial Guard had horse-mounted rough riders with the same old metal models for decades (until finally being axed in the new edition), but they never had bikes (other than some Rouge Trader models). So I decided to do something about it.

After all, this photo is basically a Valkyrie discharging a squadron of Drop Troops bikers!


Fast, light bikes suited for rough terrain seemed to fit the aesthetic and background for the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops, complementing their Tauros assault vehicles. Xhorik Drop Troop regiments use their bike units mostly for scouting enemy movements where the rough terrain and billowing dust storms prevent the use of aerial or satellite reconnaissance. In battle, they specialize in harassing isolated units, disrupting enemy movements, and occasionally making a bold strike behind enemy lines at a vital objective using demo charges and melta bombs. In order to maximize speed, maneuverability and range, their armament is very light with only twin-linked lasguns, flak armor, and grenades. They must try to strike at objectives and then rely on their mobility to escape before the enemy can engage them directly. Their bikes are designed in a very compact way so that they can be carried by Valkyries that have had their interior specially modified.

Black Squadron:






White Squadron:


A little too much glare to see the white lightning bolts on the front fenders here...




Both squadrons:



For anyone that plays Horus Heresy or still plays 6th/7th edition WH40km these are the rules I came up with for these guys.

RECON BIKERS 60 POINTS

WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Biker Sergeant 3 3 3 4 1 3 2 8 5+
Recon Biker 3 3 3 4 1 3 1 7 5+


Unit Composition
- 1 Biker Sergeant
- 4 Recon Bikers

Unit Type
- Biker Sergeant: Bike (Character)
- Recon Biker: Bike

Wargear
- Laspistol
- Combat blade
- Frag and krak grenades
- Flak armor
- Recon bike with twin-linked lasguns

Special Rules
- Provenance (Horus Heresy only)
- Scout
- Hit and Run
- Bulky

Options:
- May include up to five additional bikers...............................+10 points each
- The Biker Sergeant may exchange his laspistol or close combat weapon for:
- Augmented Weapon (Horus Heresy only)...........................+2 points
- Power sword..........................................................................+5 points
- Plasma pistol.......................................................................+10 points
- Hand flamer........................................................................+10 points
- The Biker Sergeant may be given:
- Melta bombs.......................................................................+5 points
- A single demolition charge or breacher charge................+10 points
- For every three models in the squad, one Biker may exchange his laspistol for:
- Flamer or grenade launcher................................................+5 points
- Melta gun...........................................................................+10 points
- Plasma gun........................................................................ +15 points


Basically, they cost one more point per model than 6th Edition Rough Riders with mostly the same options. They lose the hunting lances, but gain the benefit of bikes over horses (increased T, twin-linked guns, jink). The addition of bikes makes them cost 4 times more than a basic infantryman in an Auxilia list and 2.4 times more than a basic infantryman in an Imperial Guard list. I also doubled the incremental cost of a demolition or breacher charge from the other units because it will be more effective combined with their mobility.

Comments and feedback welcome!

Great work on the bikers, lots of really dynamic poses and cool visor work. Where are they from?

 gobert wrote:
Great work on the bikers, lots of really dynamic poses and cool visor work. Where are they from?

Thanks, gobert. They are Puppetswar Light Bikers with alternate heads. I think their visual style goes well with the slightly more sci-fi look of my Drop troopers.

I am working up some of the classic metal second-generation storm trooper models from 2003, when they were known as Cadian Kasrkin, and before the current iteration now known as Tempestus Scions. (This must have been when GW started to phase out generic sci-fi names and concepts and make all things specific to their universe.) I would love to get some of the original Storm Troopers models as well, but they are harder to find.

I think these second-generation models fit the aesthetic of my Drop Troopers pretty well so I wanted to include a few squads. In the lore, Storm Troopers are separate elite regiments from which units are pulled to support the regular regiments in critical missions. Sometimes they are deployed together in standalone forces, which is what the new(ish) Tempestus Scion army list represents. So I wanted the Storm Troopers to stand out from my regular rank and file, while also visually being tied-in to the rest of the army. I replicated as much of the color scheme as possible from the regular troops (the base, fatigues, blue lenses, boots/belts), while incorporating a strong dose of black and dark grey. This comes from a passage I remember reading in book about World War I that described the original German Sturmtruppen or Stoßtruppen (stormtroopers or shocktroopers) as wearing black.





Ideally, they should still look like they belong in the same theater of war (the rocky desert) while also standing out and having a more severe and intimidating look. The model ended up with a bit more black and dark grey than I was thinking, but I did not want to introduce any new colors that would clash with the rest of the army. I am debating adding a stripe of the regimental color of orange to the shoulder pad to tie them in even more. They are a separate regiment, but I figure they have been at least temporarily attached to the Xhorik 87th for the duration of a particular campaign and are operating as an elite unit within the regiment rather than a standalone force so they have adopted the colors as well. What do you think?

I would love to get some feedback before I start painting a whole batch of them.

Model looks great, love the visor. I think a stripe of orange would work well to get some color on the black and tie it in with the rest of your army.

Agree with Viterbi, an orange stripe would look great on that mini!

Love the bikers, and thanks for posting your rules. I'm building some for my Steel Legion and appreciate having an extra rule set to turn to. It's always peeved me that Guard doesn't have a shooty cavalry/bike unit.

Are you going to do a Valk conversion for them?

Regarding the stormtroopers I definitely agree with bringing in the regimental colours. I think a triband of white - orange - white on the pauldrons or the helmet would go a long way.

The stripe of orange seems to be popular, and I agree too. For me the black armour is too stark a contrast with the brown fatigues, perhaps a dark grey might be less stark? Either way they’ll be a great addition to the force

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
I am working up some of the classic metal second-generation storm trooper models from 2003, when they were known as Cadian Kasrkin, and before the current iteration now known as Tempestus Scions. (This must have been when GW started to phase out generic sci-fi names and concepts and make all things specific to their universe.) I would love to get some of the original Storm Troopers models as well, but they are harder to find.

Riddle,
I hope you do not mean the original mono-pose Storm Trooper plastics (the ones with metal Sergeants, special and heavy weapons) and instead the 3rd edition metal ones.

Cheers,

CB

Viterbi wrote:Model looks great, love the visor. I think a stripe of orange would work well to get some color on the black and tie it in with the rest of your army.

Viterbi - thank you for the feedback.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Agree with Viterbi, an orange stripe would look great on that mini!

Gwyn - thank you for the input.

NowhereMan wrote:Love the bikers, and thanks for posting your rules. I'm building some for my Steel Legion and appreciate having an extra rule set to turn to. It's always peeved me that Guard doesn't have a shooty cavalry/bike unit.

Are you going to do a Valk conversion for them?

Regarding the stormtroopers I definitely agree with bringing in the regimental colours. I think a triband of white - orange - white on the pauldrons or the helmet would go a long way.

NowhereMan - thanks. I only regret that I didn’t convert a few with special weapons as twin-linked lasguns leave these solely as objective grabbers once they use their one demo charge! I think I will try to convert a backpack for a tracking beacon to add to them at some point. The rules I wrote are for old 40k, 3rd-7th editions or Horus Heresy so I’m not sure if they will help if your group has kept up with newer editions. Once I get a game in, I’ll post an update on how the trial rules worked. (My small group is sticking with the old rules because we play Horus Heresy and it gets confusing trying to remember two systems. Plus, I have no patience for constant change and can't keep up with all the updates in the new system.)

gobert wrote:The stripe of orange seems to be popular, and I agree too. For me the black armour is too stark a contrast with the brown fatigues, perhaps a dark grey might be less stark? Either way they’ll be a great addition to the force

Gobert - my autocorrect stubbornly insists on turning your name into “Go eat” every time I try to type it. Thanks for the feedback. I’ve painted a couple more and I’m sticking with the black armor, but I am going to experiment now with regimental stripes and maybe a decal for a unit marking. I don’t have any decals specific to Stormtroopers so I was looking at Space Marine numbers but they are quite large for their larger pauldrons. I welcome any suggestions for good decals for the right shoulder.

Captain Brown wrote:

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
I am working up some of the classic metal second-generation storm trooper models from 2003, when they were known as Cadian Kasrkin, and before the current iteration now known as Tempestus Scions. (This must have been when GW started to phase out generic sci-fi names and concepts and make all things specific to their universe.) I would love to get some of the original Storm Troopers models as well, but they are harder to find.

Riddle,
I hope you do not mean the original mono-pose Storm Trooper plastics (the ones with metal Sergeants, special and heavy weapons) and instead the 3rd edition metal ones.

Cheers,

CB

CB - I was referring to the ones you painted for your drop trooper army, the metal ones from around 3rd edition (I just looked up the ones you are talking about that seem to be from Rouge Trader/early 2nd edition timeframe and I did not remember those!). I wouldn’t mind getting ahold of a few of the original metal ones that you have, as they are the ones I remember from my time starting the game in late 2nd edition and into 3rd edition.

Thanks to everyone who posted feedback on the test model. Much appreciated. I’ve started a few more and will trial some extra color on the shoulders and post an update soon.

I am sure a few readers may be thinking "Hey, I thought this was a DROP TROOPER project log so where are all the drop troopers?!"

I know I have not posted an actual Forge World Elysian in quite a while now, but I have not abandoned by beloved drop troopers. I still have a decent-sized backlog to work through, starting with these guys here (who I just primed today and will start painting alongside more Stormtroopers):



They will be my first heavy weapons squad, and the first unit of my second platoon. My first platoon has been focused on special weapons and all the troopers are modeled with grav chutes, whereas my second platoon will be dedicated to heavy weapons squads (missile launchers and mortars) and will be modeled without grav chutes. This is partially due to a lack of grav chutes (I only have 28 left) and partially to differentiate the "heavy" platoon as normally starting on the battlefield from a previous drop, while the special weapon platoon focuses on grav chute insertions directly into combat.

I did a survey of my unpainted and unassembled Drop Trooper models:

3 x Tauros Venator
1 x Tauros
3 x Tarantulas with Heavy Bolters
3 x Drop Sentinels
2 x Missile Launcher Squad (12)
2 x Mortar Squad (12)
1 x Veterans with Shotguns (5)
1 x Command Squad (5)
1 x Sniper Squad (6)
2 x Infantry Squads (20) - from eBay, appear to be re-cast
28 x Grav Chutes
2 x Elysian Equipment Packs
2 x Elysian Weapon Packs (1 of each special weapon)
26 x metal Stormtroopers
49 x Alternate Heads I use for Troopers
7 x Alternate Heads I use for Officers/specialists
7 x Stormtrooper Heads
Various Anvil grenadier bits

I'm really happy that I grabbed as much of this as I did when they were Last Chance to Buy. I just wish I would have got at least one of each squad, such as a heavy bolter squad and flamer squad, as well. I would love to get one of every flier and another Valkyrie or two in order to complete the force.

Combined with what I have painted, this could be the full army list (dark red painted, green unpainted, and blue not purchased yet):

Xhorik 87th Drop Troops Regiment, 3rd Company Strike Force:
Under the resolute command of Captain Xhaer, and the stalwart guidance of Lord Commissar Falkov

HQ:
Company Command Section (5): Regimental standard, medic, vox, power sword and plasma pistol
Lord Commissar with power sword and bolt pistol


Elites:
Stormtrooper Squad (10): melta gun, plasma gun, sergeant with power sword
Stormtrooper Squad (10): 2 x flamers, sergeant with power sword
Drop Sentinel Squadron (3)


Troops:
First Platoon: Veterans (not officially a platoon by the rulebook, but a platoon for fluff reasons because it makes more sense to have a third platoon than a bunch of individual squads)
Veteran Squad (10): Grenadiers with missile launcher team and three sniper rifles
Veteran Squad (10): Grenadiers with missile launcher team, two sniper rifles, and plasma gun
Veteran Squad (5): Demolitions with shotguns
Veteran Squad (10): Grav chutes and assortment of special weapons (to be made from shotgun vets and leftovers)

Second Platoon: Grav chute insertion force
Platoon Command Squad (5) with power fist, vox, medic and two grenade launchers
Infantry Squad (10) with melta gun
Infantry Squad (10) with grenade launcher
Special Weapons Squad (6) with three melta gun teams
Special Weapons Squad (6) with three melta gun teams
Special Weapons Squad (6) with three sniper rifle teams
Drop Sentinels (2) with multimeltas

Third Platoon: Heavy weapons platoon
Platoon Command Squad (5)
Infantry Squad (10)
Infantry Squad (10)
Heavy Weapons Squad (6) with three missile launcher teams
Heavy Weapons Squad (6) with three missile launcher teams
Heavy Weapons Squad (6) with three mortar teams
Heavy Weapons Squad (6) with three mortar teams

Valkyrie with lascannon, 2 Hellstrike missiles, and 2 heavy bolters
Valkyrie with lascannon, 2 Hellstrike missiles, and 2 heavy bolters
Valkyrie with multilaser, 2 rocket pods, and 2 heavy bolters


Fast Attack:
Tauros Squadron: 1 with grenade launcher, 1 with heavy flamer
Tauros Venator Squadron: 3 with twin-linked lascannon
Recon bikers (5) with demo charge
Recon bikers (5) with demo charge
Vendetta
Vulture gunship
Valkyrie Sky Talon


Heavy Support:
Sentry Guns (3) with twin-linked lascannons
Sentry Guns (3) with twin-linked heavy bolters
Lightning Strike Fighter with 6 Hellstrike missiles and twin-linked lascannons (allied Imperial Navy)
Thunderbolt
Avenger


Other:
Medusa Siege Gun


Combining what I have and the few fliers I need to get, this would easily be 3000 - 4000 points in WH40k 6th/7th edition rules. I still think for Horus Heresy, the cost of Drop Trooper infantry should be reduced by 15 - 30% to even come close to being competitive in that game system.

This would be an amazing ~150 infantry, 17 light vehicles/walkers/artillery, and 8 fliers (and one just for show - the Sky Talon). An impressive full company to be proud of.

Stop typing and start painting then, Guardsman! ;P

I’m somewhat impressed at the volume of stuff you have ready to go haha. I like the old Anvil drop troop stuff, hopefully they will be re-released eventually. Maybe in time for your SECOND company of troops haha!

Great plans Riddle, that’ll be an impressive weight of painted resin! The heavy platoon plans sound like a good idea if you’re short of grav chutes. The first missile squad certainly look fine without them and the basing you’ve done gives them quite a cinematic feel.

Ragsta wrote:Stop typing and start painting then, Guardsman! ;P

I’m somewhat impressed at the volume of stuff you have ready to go haha. I like the old Anvil drop troop stuff, hopefully they will be re-released eventually. Maybe in time for your SECOND company of troops haha!

I am getting going on the painting, Ragsta. I just primed these guys along with the Tarantulas yesterday.

I started this force 5+ years ago and since then the Elysians went OOP at Forge World and the heads and grenadiers went OOP at Anvil and the rifle barrels went OOP at maxmini, although they may be back now. But it just goes to show, you cannot count on your models/bits being available forever in this hobby. If you have an idea or an army, you better get going because if you wait too long, you may never be able to finish it. Thankfully, the folks at Anvil were nice enough to get me a few more sprues of heads even after they officially took them down from the site so I can mostly finish my company. But I will have to mix in a few other heads as well. I was thinking a different head might be fitting for veterans, snipers, or artillery crew, for example.

gobert wrote:Great plans Riddle, that’ll be an impressive weight of painted resin! The heavy platoon plans sound like a good idea if you’re short of grav chutes. The first missile squad certainly look fine without them and the basing you’ve done gives them quite a cinematic feel.

Thanks, Gobert. I plan to add some more detail to the base once I glue the troopers on. I started assembling them on the base and realized it may be a pain to paint them like that (I have never done heavy weapons teams before). So other than the first guy, I have left them off for now. (The running guys are held by pins in their heels and I have the hole drilled so he can stand on the pin for posing, but he is not glued down.)

But first, I am working through a few more Stormtroopers and I will post an update on them shortly.

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:


NowhereMan - thanks. I only regret that I didn’t convert a few with special weapons as twin-linked lasguns leave these solely as objective grabbers once they use their one demo charge! I think I will try to convert a backpack for a tracking beacon to add to them at some point. The rules I wrote are for old 40k, 3rd-7th editions or Horus Heresy so I’m not sure if they will help if your group has kept up with newer editions. Once I get a game in, I’ll post an update on how the trial rules worked. (My small group is sticking with the old rules because we play Horus Heresy and it gets confusing trying to remember two systems. Plus, I have no patience for constant change and can't keep up with all the updates in the new system.)

I have not been happy with the recent state of the rules, so come a time when I'm playing again I expect I'll be looking for a group willing to play an older rule set, or maybe even HH. Although I thought HH had rules that were kept concurrent with 40k? At any rate, your Biker rules will be a welcome bit of crunch to work off of.

If I wanted to quickly and relatively painlessly convert a couple of your bikes to have special weapons I would take models in the full ride pose and use greenstuff motorcycle scabbards or, because the Elysians are a little more technologically ahead of the rest of us guard, some sort of small maglock looking system to simply attach the weapon to the bike. You could probably properly magnetize your options in this way too with a little more effort.

In the same vein regarding the relatively useless Valkyrie SkyTalon, I intend to magnetize mine to be able to take Punisher Cannons as an ersatz Vulture. But it'd be cool to hear what you would do to make it viable, since your group seems open to homebrew.

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:

Captain Brown wrote:

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
I am working up some of the classic metal second-generation storm trooper models from 2003, when they were known as Cadian Kasrkin, and before the current iteration now known as Tempestus Scions. (This must have been when GW started to phase out generic sci-fi names and concepts and make all things specific to their universe.) I would love to get some of the original Storm Troopers models as well, but they are harder to find.

Riddle,
I hope you do not mean the original mono-pose Storm Trooper plastics (the ones with metal Sergeants, special and heavy weapons) and instead the 3rd edition metal ones.

Cheers,

CB

CB - I was referring to the ones you painted for your drop trooper army, the metal ones from around 3rd edition (I just looked up the ones you are talking about that seem to be from Rouge Trader/early 2nd edition timeframe and I did not remember those!). I wouldn’t mind getting ahold of a few of the original metal ones that you have, as they are the ones I remember from my time starting the game in late 2nd edition and into 3rd edition.

Thanks to everyone who posted feedback on the test model. Much appreciated. I’ve started a few more and will trial some extra color on the shoulders and post an update soon.

Drop me a PM if you like.

I might be able to help with some of these:
Old metal Storm Troopers
Valkyrie with lascannon, 2 Hellstrike missiles, and 2 heavy bolters
Valkyrie with multilaser, 2 rocket pods, and 2 heavy bolters
Vendetta
Vulture gunship
Avenger

Cheers,

CB

This was a great thread to stumble upon. Thanks for commenting on my blog so I found it.
You have a really cool-looking force of troopers here. The heads and conversions are excellent. All the variations in the poses had to be time-consuming.
Hopefully, you can get a little bit of a buff or a point reduction and show those space marines what cannon fodder really looks like!

NowhereMan wrote:

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:


NowhereMan - thanks. I only regret that I didn’t convert a few with special weapons as twin-linked lasguns leave these solely as objective grabbers once they use their one demo charge! I think I will try to convert a backpack for a tracking beacon to add to them at some point. The rules I wrote are for old 40k, 3rd-7th editions or Horus Heresy so I’m not sure if they will help if your group has kept up with newer editions. Once I get a game in, I’ll post an update on how the trial rules worked. (My small group is sticking with the old rules because we play Horus Heresy and it gets confusing trying to remember two systems. Plus, I have no patience for constant change and can't keep up with all the updates in the new system.)

I have not been happy with the recent state of the rules, so come a time when I'm playing again I expect I'll be looking for a group willing to play an older rule set, or maybe even HH. Although I thought HH had rules that were kept concurrent with 40k? At any rate, your Biker rules will be a welcome bit of crunch to work off of.

If I wanted to quickly and relatively painlessly convert a couple of your bikes to have special weapons I would take models in the full ride pose and use greenstuff motorcycle scabbards or, because the Elysians are a little more technologically ahead of the rest of us guard, some sort of small maglock looking system to simply attach the weapon to the bike. You could probably properly magnetize your options in this way too with a little more effort.

In the same vein regarding the relatively useless Valkyrie SkyTalon, I intend to magnetize mine to be able to take Punisher Cannons as an ersatz Vulture. But it'd be cool to hear what you would do to make it viable, since your group seems open to homebrew.

NowhereMan - Horus Heresy was using the same rules as 40k as they moved from 6th to 7th edition, up until the jump from 7th to 8th edition. At that point, HH stuck with 7th edition rules. The changes were too great and would have required re-writing the entire ruleset. And since it took them 10 years to write the current rules and they are missing one of their key writers now (RIP Bligh), they probably figured it would take another 10 to update the books to the new rules! They only release a new book every 1 - 2 years. I am happy they are sticking with the old rules, as I truly enjoy flamer templates, blast markers and vehicle armor facings. These are things that got me excited about the hobby as a kid. (What 12-year old could possibly say that laying a flamer template down on an enemy squad in 2nd edition and then rolling every turn to see if each survivor keeps burning or not wasn't endlessly entertaining?!) And thanks for the ideas on the bikes. I might have to pickup another set the next time I order from Puppetswar and make a few special weapons and a beacon.

Captain Brown wrote:

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:

Captain Brown wrote:

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
I am working up some of the classic metal second-generation storm trooper models from 2003, when they were known as Cadian Kasrkin, and before the current iteration now known as Tempestus Scions. (This must have been when GW started to phase out generic sci-fi names and concepts and make all things specific to their universe.) I would love to get some of the original Storm Troopers models as well, but they are harder to find.

Riddle,
I hope you do not mean the original mono-pose Storm Trooper plastics (the ones with metal Sergeants, special and heavy weapons) and instead the 3rd edition metal ones.

Cheers,

CB

CB - I was referring to the ones you painted for your drop trooper army, the metal ones from around 3rd edition (I just looked up the ones you are talking about that seem to be from Rouge Trader/early 2nd edition timeframe and I did not remember those!). I wouldn’t mind getting ahold of a few of the original metal ones that you have, as they are the ones I remember from my time starting the game in late 2nd edition and into 3rd edition.

Thanks to everyone who posted feedback on the test model. Much appreciated. I’ve started a few more and will trial some extra color on the shoulders and post an update soon.

Drop me a PM if you like.

I might be able to help with some of these:
Old metal Storm Troopers
Valkyrie with lascannon, 2 Hellstrike missiles, and 2 heavy bolters
Valkyrie with multilaser, 2 rocket pods, and 2 heavy bolters
Vendetta
Vulture gunship
Avenger

Cheers,

CB

CB - I will do that.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:This was a great thread to stumble upon. Thanks for commenting on my blog so I found it.
You have a really cool-looking force of troopers here. The heads and conversions are excellent. All the variations in the poses had to be time-consuming.
Hopefully, you can get a little bit of a buff or a point reduction and show those space marines what cannon fodder really looks like!

DJ - thanks for the feedback. You are right that converting, even changing poses, of the Elysians is tough due to the very limited compatible bits and the way the hands are molded onto the guns rather than on the arms. But the challenge just makes it more rewarding to try to add a custom pose or two. I am happy with my two medics and of course the guy giving the thumbs-up. I am thinking of getting a heat gun to try to vary the poses a bit more by bending the resin like I have seen some others do.


I have been plugging away a bit more on the Storm Troopers and got three more done to bring the squad up to four. I still have not added unit markings or the regimental color stripe yet, but that will be coming.



I know the highlighting is not super crisp. I was trying to do the edge highlighting with a bigger brush to get more paint per application and speed things along. I realized it is no good to spend hours on each individual guard trooper when most of the time in a battle they are killed before I can even take a good photo of them in action! I'd rather get an army finished that looks fine on the tabletop rather than display pieces.

You may notice that I painted the "under armor" a dark brown rather than black (even repainted it on the original model). I picture this as more of a tough leather under the metal plates so it would be a different color. This matches better with the colors used on my other guys wearing carapace armor (the Anvil Republican Grenadiers) with the brown under the bone. This hopefully also resulted in a bit less black and a bit more overlap in color with my other troopers.

Also, now I know why I always miss: the guy on the left clearly has a bent barrel. I thought I straightened them all but I clearly did not quite get this one right. They are actually fairly difficult to straighten without indenting the soft metal with the teeth of the pliers. (I am spoiled by all the plastic and resin of the last few decades and forgot the fun of working with metal miniatures!)

Next up, I am working on a sergeant and two more Storm Troopers to get a legal unit (in the old Taros Campaign ruleset anyway). Then I will add the last batch of three with another special weapon and two more troopers.

Since I am away from home this week and cannot do any modeling or painting, I thought I would share this amazing piece of art that was sent to me as a Dakka private message from a Dakkanaut named Andgil. I have replied multiple times to thank him/her, follow up, and ask if he or she would be willing to do a few more sketches as a paid commission but I’ve never received a response or seen the user active on here in the months since I was sent this piece. If anyone knows Andgil and can put me in touch I would appreciate it.

This was based on the model for Captain Xhaer, commanding officer of the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops regiment 3rd company.






I’d say the artist nailed it! I love it.

I found it extremely flattering that someone was inspired by my tiny contribution to this hobby in the way I’ve been inspired by so many others. This Dakka community is an amazing thing. Let’s keep it that way.

That sketch is sick!

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:
That sketch is sick!

Agreed! I would love to see more sketching mixed in with the modeling, painting and writing in this hobby. Sadly, I need to rely on others for this particular skill.

This sketch got me thinking of adding a little more style to the photos of the minis to help set the mood. I played around a bit on the phone to make this. It looks pretty obviously superimposed but still pretty fun to add a thematic background.

It's a cool shot. They way I see it is you've devoted so much attention to your project already they deserve some shots like this!

I recently got myself one of of the photo effects apps on my phone - I want to pimp up some fun pictures of my Flexberg as a sort of honour badge to them as a project.

That sketch is really nice, hopefully you get to at least have a catch up with the artist eventually! Heh heh, I've also pondered getting someone to do a commissioned picture for my dudes.

Oh, and you were quite right about stockpiling miniatures you like for projects - I didn't do this before Brexit and now certain options I was interested in are now financially... Unsound

Bikers,Stormtroopers and Captain are all looking great! Keep up the good work, looking forward to seeing more!