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 40kFSU wrote:
Well, firstly this is some great work. Love the blue and weathered marines. IG is really nice too I'm looking forward to more.

I do have one comment. Have you considered painting the cables and joints in the SM armor? Maybe a charadon granite with nun oil wash? I think it would break up and accent the blue further. But it's not really important because they look great.

Thanks 40kFSU, much appreciated. When I did the first test model a while back I painted the joints a different colour (black with grey highlight I think) and was going to do the same with everyone. But when I was painting them up I liked the way they looked with just the wash over base colour on the cables. So I left them to it. I do like the idea though, so might have to try it out at some point.

Well, not quite three months, but a long time none the less. But I have not been inactive. I have bought a house and moved in, and have been having a pile of boring work that has made life less fun. Plus Christmas. That always takes up time.

So today I will show off a few things:

My finished Cataphractii terminators

The first few of my converted Desert Raiders (268th Liarus now, not Talarn)

Fluff, glorious fluff

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To start, I shall show you my squad of Cataphractii terminators. These chaps are from the 1st Company of the Angels Indomitable, a formation known as the Vigilant. I have a little bit of fluff to go with them so first, here is some reading, followed by some pictures

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To Be Vigilant

'To be Vigilant, one must be blind, so that he is always searching for what he cannot see. Brothers, we are blind in the service of our Emperor! Let us never waver in our duty to find that which is hidden from our eyes, to shed light in the darkness. We are blind brothers. We are Vigilant!'
- Watcher Arguile, at the Battle of the Gates of Hades, M35.862, where a handful of Vigilant stemmed the tide of a xenos attack bent on destroying the wonders of the Emperor beyond

The Vigilant are the very best of the Angels Indomitable. The Vigilant are raised from the best of the veteran sergeants from amongst the other companies. Each Vigilant therefore knows command, tactics, battle, and sacrifice as no other human could. But to be truly part of the Vigilant, an initiate must master knowledge and scripture alongside warfare and death-bringing.

To become a Vigilant, a veteran sergeant must first be nominated by two current members of the Brotherhood, and accepted by the Watcher. From there the initiate is mentored and guided by his sponsors, until they say he is ready. From there he is given three tasks to complete: he must find the missing key, fight his way to the Altar of Keribos, and answer the Emperors question. These tasks requires mental, physical, and spiritual strength few possess.

To find the missing key, the initiate must know and understand the wealth of knowledge that exists within the Vigilantes Scriptorium. Few outsiders, all high ranking Inquisitors, have ever been allowed to see what is stored there. But within those word lie the secrets needed.

Once the missing key has been found, the initiate must fight his way to the Altar of Keribos, through the blades and fists of any brother who stands in his way. His sponsors will always challenge him, and the more promising the candidate, the more difficult the progress. Some
initiates will fight for weeks without end, challenged by every member present. Such affairs are rare, but have often revealed the chapters future leaders.

Once an initiate stands at the Alter of Keribos, they must spend a time in meditation, seeking the Emperors guidance. They await the words of the Emperor to reveal the answer to a question chosen by the watcher and place before them in the Urn of Sutraus. Upon pronouncing the answer, the Watcher will require them to present the question he has posed. If their answer is correct then the will be inducted in as a full member of the brotherhood.

Should an initiate fail any of these challenges then they are refused entry. They are returned to their previous position, and will likely never see their sponsors again. But they do not return in disgrace. To be tried is a great honour, and those who fail often rise high within their company. Not a few failed Vigilantes have risen to become company commanders or members of the Council of Masters.

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I hope you liked that little insight into these guys. They are the cream of the crop as far as the Angels Indomitable are concerned. Many wear relic armour millennia old. I only have crap photos today, but will look to get better ones in the near future.


A rough shot of the whole squad. I started out with them being all blue like the normal infantry, but they just didn't work as well as I would have liked. So I added some gold, and really like what it did. All of their hanging straps are coated in words of wisdom, and catechisms for the Emperor.


This is Vigilant Sergeant Erasmus, a veteran of over two centuries of warfare. I tried to do his skin very pale, but the hair sort of washes it out. I think I will need to go back and redo the hair colour to tidy that up.


Vigilant Brother Cyrus, bringer of the holy death. I remember as a younger me loving the old Chaos Terminators with the Autocannons. Now I have one of my own.

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So that is first round of stuff for an update. Stay tuned. Later I will show off some more work on my Desert Raiders, and a little info on the forces of the Imperium that fought on Gora.

Until next time

Great update. I like the fluff, really gives your marines some depth. Terminators look fantastic, I'm still loving that blue. Putting writing on the Tavares to make them look like parchments is a nice touch.

Thanks 40kFSU. Appreciate the kind words. Will have an update to show my Desert Raiders sometime today.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So I said I would show off my Desert Raiders today, and so I shall. Also a tiny bit of fluff: The Imperial Forces that fought on Gora. A man can dream of one day owning it all can't he?
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Imperial Ground Forces

Space Marines: Angels Indomitable 3rd company, supported by members of the 1st company

IG: 96th Pholus (combined arms), 268th Liarus (desert raiders), 18th Chikoran (infantry), 1828th Stormtroopers Company

IN: 2367th Tactical Air Wing (Thunderbolts/Avengers), 889th Strategic Air Wing (Marauders)

Ad Mech: 1 Labour Corp, 1 Engineer Corp, supported by a demi-legion of Skittari

Sisters of Battle: Commandery of the Order of the White Light, plus two Missions from the Order of the Cleansing Water

Loyal Local Forces

PDF: At least one regiments worth of units, scattered about the planet. Inducted and designated Gora 7th

Local outcasts operating as scouts and rough riders. Indeterminate numbers, possibly close to a demi-regiments worth. Very independent, but extremely useful

Pilgrims of Ptolomey the Saint, originating from shrines in the south. Numbers unknown, but considerable enough to be of use

Imperial Naval Force

Dictator class cruiser Meneroth

Two Endeavor class light cruisers Kilrock's Folly and Animus Digata

Defiant class light cruiser Maiden's Herald

Three escort squadrons

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Man, all that owned and painted would be super sweet... Still, I have years left in this life, maybe one day... after the Reaper Bones Kickstarter is painted maybe?

Anywho, here are some photos of the first few troopers of the 268th Liarus. I have taken a whole pile of bits to build these, but I am pretty happy with the outcome.


Here is everyone that is currently underway. All the baldies have since had some head scarves added.


Here's a better shot of some guys with scarves. They're not all brilliant, but I like the differences that I have in the group.


Here's a shot of the baldies. Including the grenade launcher reposed from its default position, and squad coms guy.


Meet Jim. Or something. He is one of the best I have finished so far, and he will be good to show off all the different bits used. Here he is grimacing at you.


Here we see Jims lighter side. And his lovely backpack.


And here is Jim's angry side, with his shooty stick.

These are the first shots of my first squad of these guys. I plan on putting a missile launcher team together and then these will be ready to base an prime. Then I have to figure out some paint schemes. Any suggestions?

Hope you enjoyed the show.

Until next time.

So, time for an update. Yay!

Firstly, today was a fun day. I went to a (small) convention called Armageddon. It is like New Zealand's Comic-Con, but obviously smaller. And because I live at the bottom end of New Zealand, we usually don't get things like this. So I was stoked to be able to go and hang out at a nerdy gathering and see what's that haps. I was really impressed with the turn out, the cos-play, and the stalls of stuff. Hopefully next year we will get the full version, and more stuff.

But of course, the best part for me was being allowed to spend some monies on stuff. There were only a few stalls that I was really interested in, and I got a few things from them. Below are some photos of my haul.


My haul. Nice range of fun things.


A new RPG for me and my friends to try out, and in a nice handy beginners guide too. Hoping to try this in the next few weeks.


Dr. Who drink coasters. Nuf said.


Some Hordes/Iron Kingdoms stuff. I don't ever expect to play Hordes, but I like the minis, so wanted to try some. The RPG looked pretty, and will go well on my bookshelf. Not sure I will ever play this either.


A Firefly/Serenity story. I am a huge fan, and this was something that I haven't read yet, so worth getting.
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And now for our regular service. Here are a few photos of my desert raiders, based up and ready to start painting. I have come up with a paint scheme that I quite like, that I threw together thanks to Ifalna's colour scheme tutorial.
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Here's everyone waiting to be base coated and painted.


Here's a bit more of a close up of the sergeant, and a few other guys.


Here is the missile launcher team from the front. The base is all white from pva still drying.


And from the side.


And colour scheme. Can't see it very well, but sashes will be painted a purple colour. Backpacks I am currently thinking will be the olive green of the pants.

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So, all in all a pretty good day for me. Let me know what you think. I'm all ready to start painting my next batch of guys. Oh, and I have some Perry Miniatures Camels on the way, to see if they will work for some rough riders for these guys. If so, then I will be making a bunch of them up one day

Until next time.

Took my desert raiders out to the garage today and got the primer on. Then it was time to see if I could make them look the way I wanted, or if I even like the planned scheme. Pushed through to the end of Joe, our model Desert Raider, and am really pleased with the outcome. So here are a couple of pics to show it off, and compare with the demo one I did in Photoshop.
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Here's Joe front on. Not super happy with the photos, but you get the idea pretty well. Did do his eyes. To freaking small for that. Wish I could have the control, but more effort then I fell these guys need.


And here he is from behind. Really like the Secret Weapon backpacks. Wasn't so sure about them unpainted, but look a lot nicer with some paint on.


And a side shot. A bit annoyed with myself that I didn't get the other side aswell. It has his gun, which I tried out a wood grain on. Oh well, here you can see the lovely white buttons on his leg guards. And the only GW piece on him, his water bottle.

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So, there is the first guy done. Nine more to go by the end of the month. I think I can hit that. Then I will need to do something else. Maybe the camels will be here then?

Until next time.

These guys are looking fantastic, top shelf green stuff work. I gotta tell you the ML team looks great lots of character. Oh, colors look great. Very original for desert troops.

 40kFSU wrote:
These guys are looking fantastic, top shelf green stuff work. I gotta tell you the ML team looks great lots of character. Oh, colors look great. Very original for desert troops.

Hey 40k. Thanks for the compliments. Yay for the green stuff. I'm pleased with how it turned out, but as I said, some worked better then others. I had fun with it though, so good times ahead with the painting. And putting the ML team together was cool. Little diorama time.

As to the colours. Yeah, not really desert camo or anything, but I see them as more dressish I guess. All I knew was I wanted the head wraps the colour they were. I went to Color Scheme Designer 3 and got something close, then played around with the different options. It was giving me more pastels then I thought good for a soldier, but the colours are the same. Really neat tool.

Well now, it has been a while. Not really much to say, but I have been distracted with work and the like, and then lost the urge to paint. But for the last month or so it has been back, and I have been working on the minis I enjoy. So there are a few new faces for my army. Speaking of which, I have now the Imperial Armour Vol. One (Second Edition). I have decided that the core of what I am painting for the good guys of the Gora campaign will be an Amoured Regiment, and I plan to have some Space Marine allies. Not exactly the most original army, but it covers the two things I have been painting most recently, and would be fun to play I'm sure.

But on to pictures we go.
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I finished work on the Liarus squad. I have more of these to convert, but they are a ways down the list.

This is a picture of the whole squad. My iphone makes the centre nice and blue, and Photoshop can't fix it :(


This is a bit of a close up for the guys. You can see I have tried to do wood grain on the guns (look at the kneeling guy in the centre). It didn't work out the best, but I am happy with it.


This is the Squad sgt (dathapatish). Shows the colours very nicely I think.

Next up were the new guys that I haven't shown off before. These are the 18th Chikoran Penetants Regiment. I intend to write some fluff about these guys as I find them rather fun.


First off, a poor photo of the squad. I have a decent photo setup for single minis, but not for squads or tanks. Need to sort that...


This is the centre of that photo. The guy with the chain is the squad leader (curate), supported by comms man and heavy weapons team


The right side of the squad, with some basic troopers.


The left side of the squad. The heavy weapons team and special weapons guy, plus a basic trooper.


This is the special weapons guy, and he's special. I have a photo of him at every stage of painting, so I have a record, and could put up a painting guide at some point. I think his eyes are missing their highlight :(

So a couple more and then I'm done


This is a finished picture of my Vigilant squad. Again, the photo is not the best, but I think they look cool.

And just because I haven't shown them off before, here are some pics from the Pholus 96th Armoured Regiment's Mechanised Infantry units


This is the main units styles. Kitted for colder climates, such as Gora.


This is the sergeant of one of the squads of Beastman auxillia attached to the regiment. They may be frowned upon by others, but the herds native to the Pholus system have proved themselves loyal to the Emperor time and again.

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And so that is me. I am really happy with how things are coming along. But I do have one niggling issue. I was looking at Imperial Armour 11 the other day and saw all the lovely totems that the Space Wolves carry around, and paint on their armour. I am working on another squad of marines at the moment, and would love some suggestions on things I could add to make my guys a bit more fluffy. They are an old founding chapter, so I assume they will have lots of this kind of stuff going on, but don't know what to make it. So throw me some ideas, anything is a good starting point!

Until next time.

Awesome! Those Liarus Squad members look cool as

awesome blog. I really like the IG, especially the Tallarn.

Subscribed

@lipsdapips: Thanks. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. They are the biggest greenstuffing project I have done to date.
@Scrazza: Thanks! Not quite Tallarn, but pleased that they could thusly be confused And thanks for subscribing. I'm not the most updatiest of ploggers, but I hope you enjoy what you see.

So now a quick wip status update. I have been working through the second half of my next tactical squad, and am through the bulk of the work. I have got their main colour done, and highlighted. Now I am working on some extra detailing for them. I am pretty proud of the free hand numbers.
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This is all the guys as they stand. Lighting not so good here.


This is my flamer guy. You can see I am adding some text onto the armour. It is GW Gore red, and looks pretty nice I think. I stole the idea from lipsdapips.


These guys are from the 6th Legion. And the knee pad is a legion marking.


And another 6. Also can see some more script on the backpack.

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So there's where I'm at. Aim is to get these guys done by the end of the month. Will need to add more of these kinds of details to the other couple of guys, and need paint the rest of their details. Will be interesting to see how they weather up with sponge chipping over these, but I think it should be good. At some point I will need to go back and detail up the marines I have already done. But we'll see how these guys come through.

Until next time.

So, end of the week (and almost the month), and I am happy to say that I have managed to complete the rest of my second tactical squad. I have weathered them all up, added script and some markings to those I had already done, and added some more purity seals. Home made purity seals. Following a tutorial I found at From the Warp. How and why you should make purity seals. Really good, and super easy. I'll show some results below.

Completing this squad brings me to two tac squads and a terminator squad. Just need an hq of some kind and this would be playable. But that will have to wait for a bit, as I have the urge to paint some tanks. Specifically a Salamander, so I have a command vehicle for my armoured company. Need to finish building it, and then paint it, by the end of October. If I do, then I will have to move onto something else. Not sure what, maybe my tech priest.

Anyway, enough with the words, lets see some pics!
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Brother Sergeant Anatoli, leader of Anatoli Squad. The purity seal on his shoulder is home made. Very happy with it.


Brother Storic. Flamer dude. This is one of the marines I have had since, like, the late 90's I think. Re-purposed pretty well I think.


Brother Immanuel. Another of my older marines repainted.


Brother Rastus, bringer of doom! Something that has started to bother me is the blueness of the harness on the Mk4s. I think I will need to come back and do something about these. Maybe a metallic?


Brother Rastus once more. Here you can see two different home made purity seals. I think I will probably try to make them a bit longer and thinner next time, just to match the GW ones.


Here is a poor pick of all my Angels Indomitable painted up so far.


And here's all the Angels I own.


Some characters that will be painted up at some point. The officer and tech-marine are also old school metals from the 90s that I have had lying around gathering dust.


And some FW assault marines.


Last up is my next months goal. A Salamander command tank, to lead my Pholus armoured company. Have a bunch of stowage in the bag there and some medical gauze. Hopefully she will turn out good.


This is the chapter badge for the Angels Indomitable. I have bought some decal paper, and now just need to shrink this down to an appropriate size and make many of it, so I can stick them on. I will also grab some generic squad markings for Bolter & Chainsword's decal collection and print those, so I can mark up my squads properly.

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So, there we go. I am pretty pleased with where I am at. I think I need to redo the harnesses on the marines, and I think I want to add some more markings of some kind. Once I get the decals going, then I will be really happy with these guys. Anyway, let me know what you think.

Until next time.

Great work. Do you sponge weather?

You do a really amazing job with your eyes on your space marine helmets. If you don't feel like painting the eyes on your helmetless dudes, maybe consider putting a dab of wash in the eye sockets. Also your cloth sculpting is great. Do you have any secrets for that?

Mmmm, lunchtime internet break.

@Largeblastmarker: Thanks. Yup, just sponge weathering on the marines. I think I need to find some heavier, more ridged, sponge to do it with, as my current stuff is feeling just a little to flimsy to do lots of light chips. At least, not how I would like them to be.

@rhesusforbreakfast: Thanks for the eye compliment. I am just following awesomepaintjob videos ideas when I paint my marines. The eyes on his marines (in older vids at least) are usually done in three colours, so that's what I do. I think they turn out quite nice As for my cloth sculpting, nothing super special really. I try to get the basic shape in by making it up. So with the head wraps, I got a fairly thin bit of green stuff and actually wrapped it around the head a few times to give it the right shape. Then I went back and tried to put creases in. Sometimes this worked well, others not so. I think I need to wait for the green stuff to cure a bit more before I start on trying to shape it. Hope that helps some.

Until next time.

So this week I have worked on two things. 1. Getting my Salmander Command Tank ready for painting, and 2. Marines Captain. I have the luxury of painting on my breaks at work, so I have worked on the Captain during the day and the tank at night. I have been pretty successful. Completed the Captain yesterday, and have got my tank all packed up with stowage, and camo netting, and started the painting.

But before pictures, some fluff.

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Calicus' Command

The air carried the smells of battle: the sharp coppery tang of las weapons, the waft of bolter discharge, the pungent stickiness of spilt blood, and the thick, almost subliminal, stench of fear. The guardsmen had put up quite a fight, beating back a brutal assault by the unholy beasts. Those few left were cowering in their trenches, praying or sleeping or crying as they saw fit. Calicus strode through the lines, heading towards the command bunker. That the guardsmen had held this long was a miracle, and he did not intend to waste an opportunity such as this. Though the Imperial forces were badly mauled by the assault, so too would be their enemies, and he would strike now. His legion stood ready to blast a hole in the enemies lines, a hole wide enough for the guardsmen to exploit. Now he needed to make them move.
?
“We are not ready lord Captain. The men on the line are spent, and we do not have enough reserves to cover the front as is. To do as you ask would mean having nothing to reply should the enemy counter attack elsewhere.” The Guard commands face spoke of his fatigue. His actions spoke of a prudent man, given a task that no one could want. His eyes spoke of his fear of the Captain. Calicus could not fault him his assessment, for it was true that the last of the reserves would have to be committed here, now, with no turning back. Time was running short. A moment of pity flashed through Calicus’ thoughts.
“There is no discussion here, General. You will move those reserves forward, and you will do it now. To refuse will endanger this entire front, the entire Crusade, and I will not let that happen. The Emperor demands your obedience, and you will give it, or someone else will. Is that understood?” The implied threat lingered in the air for but a second before the Guard commander crumbled. The pity flared again, but as the commander issued his orders, Calicus thoughts turned to other things. His plan in motion, his battle brothers gathered, he left the command bunker behind and moved to his command vehicle.
?
The precise, disciplined bark of bolter fire filled the air around him, and the howls of the dying xeno scum warmed his heart. Here, surrounded by the Emperor’s work, Calicus felt most at home. A calm order spoken through his comms and the left flank of his legion’s advance started to curve inward. A smile flickered across his face as he watched the wall of xenos ahead of him start to crumble, and then a whole scale route begin to take place. Looking to his pict screens he saw that the route was being repeated across the entire legions front. The enemy had broken. Now came the work of the guardsmen, their tanks and massed manpower surging forward into the now widening gap. Though many would still die, if their commanders handled it properly, this war was won. Calicus turned his thoughts to the next task. As the guardsmen took over the advance the marines began to return to their staging point. The Chaplains offered prayers to the Emperor as battle brothers carried in the wounded and fallen. Calicus looked out at his legion, weaker today than yesterday, but still mighty and strong. The Emperor’s Hammer could still be swung, and Calicus would swing it wisely.

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To go with that little story, I present Captain Calicus, commander of the Sixth Legion of the Angels Indomitable, Bearer of the Seal of Hectval, Keeper of the Gate of Atavist, Lord of the High Pass.


Captain Calicus. Pretty pleased with how he has turned out. I even had a go at his eyes, and the didn't turn out completely pants, so that's a win.


Here's a picture of his cloak. Super happy with this. The shadows aren't quite as good in real life, I stuffed them up a bit, but the overall look at arms length is great.

Still need to decide what to do for his banner. I just don't know how to approach them. So if anyone has an idea that would be great.

And then there was some tank. I have a shot from each side, so I'ma just post them all up and then talk some.








Front shot is a bit pants, but the rest are a good indication of where I'm at. I have painted the observation deck at the back, and given the hull its base camo colours. Next, I need to go in and apply some details colourThen its a varnish, some decals, another varnish, and then some chipping. Then another varnish and onto some oil washes. Then another varnish, and then something something dark side. Tanks take too long.

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So that's me for the week. Lunchtime paintings are going to be taken up by some Reaper Bones Orcs, whilst I work on the tank at night. Just incase anyone is interested, go look at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-ii-the-return-of-mr-bones. Lots of cool minis at a decent price. I got in on the first one and I will be living forever because of it

Until next time.