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As promised, here are some shots of the dread. Not completely done, there are always details to pick out or add... but for a "painting experiment" it worked out well enough to keep.

First shot: The dread (Brother Calus) and Brother Six side-by-side for a paint scheme comparison.



Second shot is Brother Calus next to one of my old, all-metal dreads so you can see how the paint job has changed.




I'll get back to the Vanguard project presently... just got a burr in my bonnet to get this guy done & try the new painting techniques out on a vehicle.




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All-right... that was wierd... I just posted some pics and text, and the summery in my index shows the text... but it doesn't appear on the blog....

Help? Is it just a size of the post vs. size left on the page thing??

Looking very good. The guys with the Jump packs are awesome especially the mantis arms. keep it up I'll follow.,


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Oh BTW where'd you get the long grass from im looking for some.

@comisarmilo: Thank you! FLGS. Unfortunately the labels fell off the bags so I can't tell you the brand name right off hand. I'll probably swing by there this afternoon, if I can remember I'll write it down for you. Bags were cheap as I recall, and there's plenty in there. The individual grass pieces are about 2" long so you have to trim them up.

Yeh, that happened with some of my posts on other Plogs, I think its just a system glitch.

These look really nice. For the swamp snipers you should have them knee deep in swampy-mirey-muck-stuff, like they are wading through it to get to a target, that would look cool!

Imp. Monkey

@comisarmilo: OK, the tall grass is called "field grass" by Woodland Scenics, it comes in small packets for a couple of bucks (each packet has a bunch of fibers in it). You should be able to find it at most hobby or model railroad stores.

@ImpMoney: That sounds like an interesting idea... and quite a challenge. Not exactly sure how I'd model that... since you wouldn't want to model the ground up on the figure (that would look silly), you'd have to cut a certain portion of each figure off, then mount them on a swampy looking base. Cool idea, I just don't know if a small base is large enough to do a credible "swamp" diorama on... without that, they'd just look sawed off. Hmmmm...

Splitta Swamp bases are doable if you want to take the time!

Step 1 - glue a disk of plasticard to the bottom of the base to seal it off, use the thinnest you can to keep from adding too much height.

Step 2 - cut out the top of the base, carefull not to damage the sides of the base, I would leave irregularities on one side to represent the shore on a couple but most would have to be perfectly round I guess.

Step 3 - cut of the marine's feet ( aaaargh!!!) and glue to the base, the marine would have to be painted but you could do this with just the legs painted if you want.

Step 4 - Paint the inside of the base in browns and greens to rpresent mud and slime.

Step 5 - Find yourself a product called "doming resin", you can get it at hardware or hobby stores, I use a 2-part recipe. Mix up a small batch , then put a few drops of a couple of different greens into the resin, and mix lightly, leaving streaks in it. Pour into the base up the rim and Voila!, marine walking through swamp.

I would also glue the odd rock and clumps of rushes into the base before pouring the resin to add variety, Damn and I have the perfect leaping frog that would look sweet leaping off the edge of the base!

Anyway hope that stokes the imagination engine

You guys are both evil.... but I love it!

Thanks Blackhand, a step-by-step really helps... I'll definitely try that. It's worth pursuing... bit it'll have to go on the back burner for a bit until I get my signature squads & characters done.

This would be a good project for my regular marine scouts I think.... yes? Not sure it two sternguard squads are feasible, or even legal.

ok that was weird...thought it was a double post , deleted it, then the double post disapeared

here it is again



and yeah you gotta try this

You and are of the same mind my friend! Love my little sniper scouts... Awesome job on the base. I've gotta try this.... &*%$#@!! One more thing....



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O.K. guys... back to the Vanguard model. It appears that I used plastic glue on the joint plates, so there's no replacing those particular joints... that being said, I agree that the circular joints will look better though and will come up with something for the rest of the squad.

Now I've got a couple of things for you to consider. Should I...

a) Try to make something like this out of power swords so I can more easily claim them to be lightening claws?
b) Just stay with the chainsword apparatus and paint them to look a bit more "powered"?
c) If "a", I could probably say this guy is the sergeant with the relic blade & mount an appropriate gun of some sort on him (which I think I can do tastefully).


I have my own opinion... but for the nonce I'll keep it to myself and see what you guys think. In the mean time, I'll gussy up the figure a bit (purity seals, etc.) and get 'im primed.


Does anyone know how to stop a post from "automatically appending"? It's annoying...

Nice Dread. It show how much you have improved since you painted the other one. I really like what you did shading wise.

just a thought.. and not to cause you to go in a different direction. If you are using them a lightning claws why not think about hinging actual lightning claws.

I akin to more japanese/chinese tiger claws.

Just a thought

@Solar_lion:
Thanks, I worked on it a bit more today... got a great banner off the right arm, picked out a few more details, worked on the base a bit. Don't want to overdo it, but there are so many things that can be done it's kind of hard to decide when to stop. I'm still mulling it over...

The idea with the Mantis Warrior combat arms is to make them look like preying mantis arms themselves. While hinged "tiger claws" would look awesome, they aren't very preying mantis-like.

I've got the Vanguard build tweaked to my liking and it's primed... so I may start the painting tonight. If I do a decent job on the painting... it should look pretty cool!


@Blackhand : I have an idea for the swamp scouts... think Apocalypse Now... think "The End" by The Doors. Let that bounce around in your brain for a bit and maybe you'll figure out where I'm going.

Gitsplitta wrote:@Blackhand : I have an idea for the swamp scouts... think Apocalypse Now... think "The End" by The Doors. Let that bounce around in your brain for a bit and maybe you'll figure out where I'm going.

Scouts in the heart of darkness?

@Niilo: Add water to the equation...

My thought is to have the scouts wading through mid-riff deep water with swampy bits around the edges. So I'd model them from the waist up, with them set in the bottom of the base as Blackhand suggests, but rather than having gravel and stuff down in the base "compartment" it would just be painted black & filled with the doming resin. Reminiscent of Martin Sheen rising up from the water on his mission to take out Kurtz.

Blackhand... can you give me a brand name on that doming resin, just in case I can't find it locally and have to order it over the net?

I've also been experimenting with ways of creating good clumps of tall grass... think I've figured out a good, repeatable method (besides just putting the glue on the base, sticking the grass in it and hoping for the best).

Thanks!

I am truely excited to see that!

The clear resin I am using has been rebranded with the name of the store I buy it from so I can't help with a brand name unfortunately, but the product itself is called doming resin and should be available in hobby or hardware stores, sorry I cant be more help.

Also my sabretooth marines are going to need clumps of prairie grass on the bases so any tips on gluing long grass down will be much appreciated.

And a word of warning, clear resin can take up to three days to cure but the effect is worth the wait

Thanks Blackhand... I'll look for it... and I can be very patient.


O.K., tonight's installment... a quick "how to do tall grass" tutorial. No pics (it's simple) but I can add pic's if you like.

First, get your tall grass stock, I use Woodland Scenic's "field grass" and make the size bundle you want. I usually take about half as much as I need, cut the filaments in half and double them up. If they're too tall it's best, you need them to start too tall. What I found out with my tall grass is that if you plant them in superglue, the parallel filaments of the grass will draw the glue up between them, which effectively forms the grass into a solid column of grass fibers... not easy to work with and does not look good. Rather than fight this though (not sure how you would... you use it to your advantage. Here's how...

1. Take a half-sized shock of grass, remember you want it extra tall for this.
2. Cut in half and combine the two halves.
3. Take some super glue and put it on a flat surface, I spread mine out a little bit with a toothpick to flatten the glue bubble out a bit.
4. Take the "bottom" of the grass clump and dip it into the superglue, then pull it back out.
5. Give a few seconds for the glue to set up a bit, then take a paper towel and roll the bottom of the grass clump briefly, this will draw out the excess glue (for some reason the grass does not stick to the paper towel immediately, so you can get away with it.
6. Give it a few more seconds and lightly roll the bottom glued part between your fingers to give it a round cross section, again, I haven't had problems with the clump sticking to my fingers.
6. Set aside and let dry thoroughly.
7. When grass is dry, you'll be able to see the point that the glue was "drawn" up to by the fibers. Take a scissors or hobby knife and cut about 1/8 below it, getting rid of most of the glued part of the stalk, but keeping just a little bit in order to give your grass a solid base.
8. Put a little dab of glue on the base and place your grass in it, Since the fibers at the base are now glued, it should not draw up any more glue (unless you put too much glue on the base, this also means the fibers are free to be moved and re-positioned almost all the way to the base, which gives a much more natural look.

Toodles!

Cheers 'Splitta , thats going to come in really handy...course I still have to order the grass!

If you can't find what Blackhand suggests, I'd reccomend trying Woodland Scenics' "realistic water"
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/C1212/page/1

I imagine that a few drops of paint or maybe even green food coloring (or both?) added to it and mixed in before pouring it into the base would achieve a realistic effect.

Should be easy enough to find at any hobby shop that sells model railroad supplies, as the brand is pretty much a staple for scale railroad builders.

@Nowlan: I actually have some of that running around already... used to do some model RR stuff. Problem is that when it dries it pulls away from the edges, giving you a concave surface. That's OK for model railroading... not so good for a little base. (better than nothing though). That's why the doming resin idea was so intriguing... might not pull away as badly.


Another thing for the 3 or 4 of you still reading to consider...

A friend of mine just pointed out the section in the back of the SM Codex where you can give your DIY chapter disadvantages and advantages. Since I already have one major disadvantage (Flesh Over Steel) and probably two minor disadvantages (Have Faith in Suspicion & We Stand Alone). I thought about taking some advantages. I've never played against anyone who's done this... my friend assures me that as part of the codex, it's legal to do. So there you have it. Anyone know anything different?

So I can pick two, unrelated advantages. I was thinking as follows... (these are both fluff-based, but they do help the chapter out as well)

Honor the Wisdom of the Ancients (dreads can be taken as heavies, but all Elite Dreads must be venerable) - this would mean I wouldn't have to take a MoTF every battle in order to get my dreads as heavy support...
Purity Above All - (Vet Sergeants can be upgraded to Apothecarys) This is a very nice compliment to my "survivors" theory as to how the MW's survived their crusade. And two of my "signature units" would benefit (Sternguard and Vanguard). It's a minor thing, but being able to ignore one blown normal save per turn isn't too bad. Not worth the points for the upgrade... but it's fluffy.

Thoughts??

Honor the Wisdom of the Ancients (dreads can be taken as heavies, but all Elite Dreads must be venerable) - this would mean I wouldn't have to take a MoTF every battle in order to get my dreads as heavy support...
Purity Above All - (Vet Sergeants can be upgraded to Apothecarys) This is a very nice compliment to my "survivors" theory as to how the MW's survived their crusade. And two of my "signature units" would benefit (Sternguard and Vanguard). It's a minor thing, but being able to ignore one blown normal save per turn isn't too bad. Not worth the points for the upgrade... but it's fluffy.

Thoughts??

My old SM army ran a few of these. Makes it feel alot more personalized IMO. Good choices on yours btw, fits in well with your fluff!

(b) I think you should keep the chain sword idea (You could say that they didn't put much effort into there army so why are they complaining? )

An advantage rule, maybe something like a Mantis some dash attack? The enemy doesn't see them until there in range of the dash . (yeah I know its cheap ).

@tony: Yeah, that's what I thought... this is like... one step better than just putting apothecary shoulder pads on one man in each squad, because it actually puts an apothecary in each squad... and it's legal! In the vet squads at least, getting a "free" failed (normal) save forgiven each turn is actually more valuable as the point cost of the figures is so much higher. Might help make the Stern & Van (especially the Van) worth the points.

@Finch: Yeah, I like the look of the chainswords best myself... think I'll just use them as "counts as lightening claws", unless I have some great epiphany as to how to make good looking power sword mantis arms. Your "dash" idea is an interesting one, save that there is no "dash" ability in the codex and one of basic principles was to make this an entirely legal army.... no DIY rules. Has to be able to be played anywhere with no special permissions given by opponent.

Wouldn't furious charge or something along those lines be roughly the same as a "dash" ?

I don't know why everyone seems to overlook apoths. I loved them and they saved my but a few times when it came down to saves.

What page number is this on? Or is it the 4th Ed codex? I only ask because A) I cant find it and B) Apoths give the unit FNP now, not the ignore a failed save.

It was in the 4th codex I believe.

Hang it all!! I just realized I was looking in the 4th edition rule book for all this stuff... and I can't find my 5th Ed. rule book.


O.K. Scratch all the above discussion of abilities. Sorry guys.

Ahh, so you'd have to get permission anyways.

Argh, ninja'd
I think all the Combat Tactics and different HQs replaced that stuff. Sorry to burst your bubble :(

I'm sure you could find someone to play a 4th ed game with you, though you may have to deal with that darn nidzilla crap....

Meh, that's OK... I wasn't counting on it... so it's no big deal. Was fun there for a moment though. :-)

I hope this god forsaken game is around when my boys get old enough to play too!


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I was thinking about that issue with the joints on the mantic "claws" What about using the hubs from SM bikes? Its small, circular and with a bit of shaving on the back side (theres a joke in there somewhere) they would prob look pretty cool.