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Well its that time again. I have managed to steal a few hours to put the finishing touches onto some more models. Unfortunately it's only 2 at this stage, but it is an important two. First up we have the most basic of the armies Dreadnoughts, the Junior of the team, armed with a Multi-melta and Powerfist and eventually to be loaded into a drop pod I expect him to be a one hit wonder, land behind some nasty vehicle or squad and hopefully put an end to them before the poor dreadnought bites the dust.



He isn't as grand as the previous two dreads, but that is the idea, he isn't venerable like the other two, he is a newbie and has to earn his stripes.

The next model that is completed is the leader of my army, the Master of the Forge (or in the case of the Iron Hands, an Iron Father) with his insanely large conversion beamer. I am personally really happy with the over the top look of the weapon.



So I am holding out for the new Space Marine Codex to see what changes will be wrought and how easily my army list can be modified to suit the changes, it will be the first test as to whether my plan will be able to adapt to the evolving rules and still keep its fluff. I am really keen that there will be individual Chapter traits again, but I so hope they don't remove the ability of the Master of the Forge to take Dreadnoughts as Elites or Heavy Support, that would really change the army around. But will have to wait and see. Also I would love to see Terminator Sergeants reintroduced, but that would be a minor tweak to the list.

I am about an hour away from finishing the first tactical squad off and another hour or so will see their rhino finished as well. I then plan to knuckle down and get the other two tac squads and one rhino done. That will then leave me the bikes I already have and I will hold off on further purchases until I know where I stand rules-wise with the new codex (would hate to buy the Ironclad and find I can't fit it into the army).

On a side note, I played a 1750 point game with my Imperial Guard against a beautifully painted Dark Eldar army at the NSW Northern Knights club on Sunday, great game and I had some insane dice roles early on that really put me on the front foot. Although there was one Ravager that must have made more than 10 flickerfield saves in 3 turns and it survived to the end of the game. But once the smoke had cleared I had done enough to secure a solid victory, unfortunately the Dark Eldar were just not suited to deal with so much armour.

I hope to keep updates coming at fairly regular intervals, particularly as my Tactical Marine color scheme is pretty damned simple. Who would have thought that black was the new black?

This update sees the first of my Tactical Squads and their faithful Rhino. The squad was done a couple of days ago, but I waited til I had their Rhino finished to post them all together.

For those interested, this will actually be my first EVER power armored army, yep, really. Never used the Space Marines before (I sold my soul to the Eldar many, many moons ago) I still feel a little unclean with all this heavy armor, but can't wait to laugh in the face of the dice gods with 3+ saves everywhere. (Please dice gods don't hold it against me, I was only trying to be a big man and show off to my friends).

On to the photos:

Here we see the squad posing with the first Venerable Dreadnought (can't seem to get that guy out of the camera). You can see the Sergeant with his combi-melta on the left with a quick banner. There are quite a few "bionic" upgrades throughout the squad that don't show up too well in this photo unfortunately.


This is a close up of three of the Marines showing off there bionic leg, hand, leg (from left to right), I figured with mechandrites common in the Adeptus Mechanicus it wasn't too much of a stretch the Iron Hands would have smaller scale ones.


Here we see the squad getting out of their Rhino, I have no illusion that on the tabletop they instead will be disembarking from a flaming wreck most of the time. But hey, you have to at least try.....


Front view of the Rhino, like the squad fairly basic, but with the effort I put into the Dreads and Iron Father I needed to just relax and knock out a few marines, please don't hold it against me.


Back side of the Rhino, the top hatch and rear ramp aren't secured, this means I can put a member of the squad inside during game play so I don't forget who is who. Anything to help my failing memory. It didn't show up well, but I am really stoked by how the tarp rolled up on the back came up, best part of the whole Rhino.


Last photo for this update, the Rhino interior. I love how the interior of some of the vehicles have been detailed. It adds an extra depth to the models that I really enjoyed painting.


In fact, it may sound strange, but I actually really enjoyed painting the Rhino, I would go so far as to say it has been my favorite model so far, not really sure why, but I am strange like that.

So that is it for now, currently I am painting the two Heavy Bolter Servitors that are going to accompany the Iron Father and then I will paint the second tactical squad and their Rhino, then if I stay of track the final tactical squad who were too poor to get a Rhino. But I do have a Necromunda gang that I want to rebase.....

Thanks for reading.

Well it has been quite a while since I have updated my progress, largely due to there being very little progress going on. [Insert witty and completely believable excuse here]. Oh, oh wait pick me, pick me! I have one. Well you see my wife and I have a young German Short Haired Pointer (she is 9 months old now) but still as crazy as a puppy can be. So full of energy and life. But unfortunately she decided to tangle with a snake a couple of weeks back and it looked very grim for a little while, but all turned out well, she is about 99% back to her old mischievous self and we have managed to deal with the Vet bills a lot easier than I had thought. Unfortunately the snake didn't come off too well with the encounter and did not survive, so I guess that is Puppy 1, Snake 0. (Just lucky it was this type of snake and not one of the more aggressive and deadly varieties that our sunburnt country can offer).

It was the biggest example of its species that I have ever seen in person, was a beautiful specimen though, very healthy looking and probably explains why it got so touch and go with our dog. Internet Cookie for anyone that can name the species (I am looking at you Aussies). On a side note those are my shoes and I wear size 12's US. So it worked out to be about 1.2 meters long. I did put a tape measure next to it later, but numbnuts forgot to take a picture of that.


It was surprisingly heavy. Wasn't expecting that from the snake, although it was pretty long.


Hmmm, I believe they can get longer, but it was the longest I have seen with my own eyes.

ANYWAY, back to the modelling. I have had a little success rolling forward, but what with my gaming club being fairly active and an all day Saturday event, my painting has been suffering as my gaming has been going ok. I was handed to comfortable losses to Blood Angels and then Dark Angels (I hate their Special Characters) I have learned though that I need to castle up my Imperial Guard. In both games I started REALLY well, few casualties and some good kills. But with my army divided it was easier for the Marines to divide and conquer. I needed to pick a corner and bunker down, letting them come to my guns rather than them being able to duck and weave around picking me apart piecemeal. But hopefully the lessons have been learned and next time a wall of Lasguns and Leman Russ will meet them. On a side note I love outflanking Sentinels, can be such a royal pain in the ass.

Other lessons I learned was that I really needed my own objective markers, it was a little embarrassing having to borrow someone else's, even though it was a cool Terminator statue. So I took a break from the Marines and threw together some objective markers, I also decided I needed to make some markers for smoke launchers and something a little more cinematic for hull point counters. These are still a work in progress so stay tuned for them, but at least the objective markers have been finished.


So I may have gone overboard making 10, but like many hobbyists know you end up with such a ridiculous amount of spare parts I couldn't help myself. Another Internet cookie to however can identify the podium with the blue top (its not that hard)


Extra supplies, quick load them up!


Had these things for a long time now. Good to put them to use.


Never realized how many jerry cans I had in my bits box.

I also have finished the second of three tactical squads, this one has a few conversions for bionics that I am pretty happy with, particularly the giant eye on the Sergeant.



To keep things fresh I have been cycling in some terrain pieces that have been in need of finishing for quite some time. Like the craters shown previously this one got a very similar paint job to tie it all together.



I really think some good terrain and painted models look awesome together (yes I am blowing my own trumpet).





You may notice in that previous photo there was a terminator. Well when the new Codex dropped I found I had a few points to spend compared to my new list. I racked my brains on what to spend the points on and realized I wanted something to really take advantage of the new Iron Hands Chapter Traits. Therefore I could think of little better than a Terminator Captain. He will lead the Tactical Squad without a Transport and with IWND and FNP, plus a 2+/4++ I think/hope he will be a rock for the squad. Yes there could have been better things to spend the points on and maybe he won't be that effective, but damn it I loved when Iron Hands could have Terminator Sergeants and this is as close as I can get.


Plus I think I did a great job on his conversions. I love his half mechanical face.


A little pattern to break up the black.


So a bionic arm and leg (see previous photo) and a bionic face. A true son of Medusa.

Finally on the new painting side a Rhino for the Tactical Squad to roll around in. I did a little more to this one than the previous Rhino.




The new Tactical Squad have that hammer on their Shoulder. Makes it easier for me to tell what squad is where, even though they are all armed exactly the same.....


I have exactly no idea what Medusa would look like from space, but a stylized planet helped break up the large black areas.

On a side note I have gone back over the Dreadnoughts and previous Rhino and given them all Searchlights and Smoke Launchers. I am a big fan of WYSIWYG so it was only appropriate that I follow the Imperial Guard and makes sure everyone is carrying what they are equipped with and it may actually help me remember to use the upgrades in game (even if they are free).

So that has been my progress and life since the last update. On an encouraging note I now actually own all the models I need to finish this army. So on the cards I have:
8 Bikes and an Attack Bike
3 Drop Pods
Techmarine with Servo Harness and 3 Servitors
Tactical Squad
Thunderfire Cannon and Techmarine
Ironclad Dreadnought

Gee that is depressing, really though I had made a lot more progress than that. Need to get back to the painting table. Or at least try. Think I will try to knock off the Techmarine and his Servitors next. Then do the last Tactical Squad.

Wish me luck and its good to be back posting.

Thanks for reading.

woo those markers look mighty fancy man glad to see this is still kicking.

sorry to hear about your dog though glad she is doing better...i dunno man when you showed the length of the snake onoly thing i could think of was can we eat it lol.

keep up the slow progress... slow progress is better than no progress

Before I begin I apologize for the shocking photography of this update, I was a little rushed this morning and instead of putting the update off until tomorrow I stubbornly have gone ahead with it....

Well it is time for another update, I had a long weekend and managed to even get some painting done, amongst doing a fair amount of clearing of my property in preparation of the bush fire season. Yes, yes it is a little later in the year than I was planning, but a combination of things have been keeping me from what I should have been doing. Anyway, long story short I have had a very productive long weekend and here are the hobby results:

First up some in progress work on the Drop Pods, I tried something a little different here and did the silver first (white undercoat, some sort of silver, then a black wash over the top). This is mainly due to me starting to run out of black paint and being too lazy to go get more, the plan was then to paint the sections in black, thus conserving more of the rapidly dwindling black paint. It works from a distance, but unfortunately I am having a hell of a time trying to get the black paint to go on smoothly, I have tried thinning it down, but I am still getting streaks, lumps and bumps. Should have bitten the bullet and undercoated it in black to get it nice and smooth. There is still time to do it on the other two......



The one pod that has had black added to it. I really like the color scheme though even if the paint isn't playing ball. I think it is enough black to fit the rest of the army, but enough silver to not have it look like a black blob from a distance. I have been painting the outsides only and will move to the inside once I have finished the exterior. Maybe not the best way to play it, but damn if a drop pod is an involved and detailed model.



Next up is the Techmarine and his Servitor Cannon Fodder....I mean assistants. I continued the Armour color scheme from the Master of the Forge, that being a brass/bronze armor where the Shoulder pads and backpack have the Black and Silver Chapter Colors. Helps them stand out from the crowd (because the four extra arms aren't enough). The Servitors are fairly bland to help the Techmarine pop a little. You can see them wandering past an oil tank that has sprung a leak. I am finding the motivation to keep going is assisted by having a piece of terrain going at the same time.



Alternate angle:



Close Up of the Techmarine, prize goes to anyone that knows the pieces used to make this Techmarine (may be hard considering the shocking photography), I thought it kind of fitting since the Iron Hands use their Techmarines (Iron Fathers) as a Spiritual Leader as well.



Next we have the Thunderfire Cannon, probably the model I have enjoyed painting the most thus far in the project. I sorely considered getting another one.....but the list is set so I forgot about that idea. I got this model off eBay from the UK, only paid about AUS$40 for it and its the metal version, way better than the AUS$90 they want for the finecast one. Anyway, the vendor claimed "well painted" when it turned up it was in pieces with a shocking paint job and what seemed to be no mold lines or flash cleaned off it. Felt like saying something to him, but reminded myself I saved $50 on it and being metal could easily strip the paint off it.



I continued with the red tipped missiles that this army has, as well as the white weapon casings.



Back view of the Thunderfire Cannon:



And finally for this update the three Techmarines all together for the first time. I think they work well together and are a fitting leadership group to the Iron Hands.



So I now have the following to finish off:

3 Drop Pods 15% done
8 Bikes assembled and undercoated
1 Attack Bike assembled and undercoated
10 Tactical Marines assembled
1 Ironclad Dreadnought assembled

I am hoping I can get this army done by the end of November and dedicate the Christmas period to hammering into an Empire Knightly Order army for Warhammer. Sorry folks the wife has spoken and she said she may even paint a knight or two, would be her first ever painting (she does play occasionally with my armies) so I am keen to introduce her to painting.

I don't hold out much hope I will get anything done over Christmas, we are off to a friends wedding in Sunny Scotland, leaving Sydney on Boxing day and spending all of my annual leave abroad. Any tips on what an Aussie can do in the middle of the UK over Christmas?

Oh on a side note and I forgot to take photos of them (will do it next time) I have made pillars of "smoke" to represent when a vehicle pops smoke (cotton wool soaked in spray fixative) and vehicle hull point markers that are columns of smoke and fire made from steel wool painted with red, orange and yellow highlights. They really help to make a visual emphasis of what a vehicle is actually up to.

Hi all, hope there are still some interested souls out there. (Not that it matters as I am actually enjoying putting the updates up )

Anyway, I am going to do two updates today, this first one is related to Warhammer 40k in general (like the objective markers I made) but I have picture my creations with one of the humble Iron Hands Rhino's. So without further adieu:

Here we see a humble Rhino, just trying to survive in the world, minding its own business.



But to try and survive a little longer in a harsh and dangerous universe it POPS SMOKE!



But alas, even the smoke clears eventually and then every Tau and his Pulse Rifle want to have a crack..... 1 Hull Point down.



Uh-oh, another one lost.....



Damn, wrecked, looks like we are walking now guys.....



So basically you see I have made some visual props to keep track of vehicles that have popped smoke and hull points. I was getting sick of sticking a dice on top that could fall off, be forgotten (yes I admit it I am fallible). So it is now very hard for me to forget or ignore these little beauties. Really helps with the Imperial Guard as I have 9 vehicles and 6 walkers to keep track of. (And yes, I made enough smoke and hull point markers for ever vehicle to be wrecked with smoke at the same time).

I also think it improves the battlefield and reminds everyone of the fact vehicle wrecks are difficult as well as dangerous terrain.

Stay tuned for an Iron Hands update.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
How about that, a long absence and now two updates in one day, you lucky internet readers you.

I managed to finish off the Drop Pods for the Iron Hands army over the weekend. I am almost happy with them, I had some massive issues with my black paint going on really lumpy and horrible. I thinned it out with water, an acrylic medium but nothing seemed to work. I ended up biting the bullet and bought a new pot and guess what? It solved the issues, so I guess I must have gotten some form of contamination in the pot at some point or it was starting to go bad, who knows. I have taken a couple of photos of the nasty stuff just to show my issue.

Anyway, to start the three pods. I am really hoping to scare an opponent when two of these crash down first turn.



The paint scheme is VERY simple, but it ties in nicely with the rest of the army I think. Besides, after they deploy they are just expensive paper weights essentially.

Dreadnought attack! Here is what will be climbing it's way out of the pods for this army.....although the Dread up the back will be deployed on foot and the unpainted Ironclad will instead be pod bound.







As previously mentioned though, once the precious cargo has moved off (or more likely reduced to molten slag) the Pods themselves are just pretty, expensive paper weights. I need to think about dropping them in somewhere that inhibits my opponents ability to move. Since the pods are going to be purely for the Dreadnoughts I decided not to fit the center console and harnesses, that way it looks marginally like the pod could at least hold a dismantled dreadnought.



I didn't have the points available to afford a weapon upgrade, so the pods only have a storm bolter to harass the enemy with, although, if an opponent forgot it was there and exposed an AV10 vehicle they potentially (although unlikely) get a rude shock....



You can see here that the black paint is uneven and lumpy (from a distance its not too bad and its only one of the pods). Solved the issue with a new pot of paint.



Although I did the bases of the Pods all at once with the old paint so they are all a little uneven, but who is ever going to see the bottom of a drop pod?



So that is where I stand with the Iron Hands so far. I now have an Ironclad Dreadnought, Tactical Squad (who aren't important enough to get a Rhino, objective Campers anyone?) and a full Bike Squad with Attack Bike left to paint. I am going to try and hammer the Tactical Squad out for the rest of the week and weekend and if I can achieve that I believe I will be successful with finishing the Iron Hands by the end of November.

Hope you enjoyed the read.

I had been holding off updating until I had more done, but after a VERY wet weekend building yet more fences to contain our over-excited puppy I have managed very little on the hobby front. Since we have had our four legged bundle of joy (now 14 months old) she has required the raising of our fence line from 4.5 feet to 7 feet. (That's about 300 meters of fencing), what we discovered last week however, after she got out again, was that she had now discovered a way to climb down the cliff that borders two of our properties edges.....she is a little too clever for her own good. So, out in the rain all weekend I have laid another 50 meters of fencing along the cliff edge she had been climbing down. Now I just hope she doesn't learn to fly or abseil as I am not looking forward to having to fence the entire cliff line. I was told German Short-Haired Pointers were active, smart dogs, but it is starting to get crazy, maybe I can teach her to play Warhammer? Please note we also have two other dogs on the property and they don't seem inclined in the slightest to want to go anywhere.

Anyway, I have finished off the final Tactical Squad who will accompany the Terminator Captain in most games (or at least a combat squad will). I have also continued with my plan to work on terrain as I go churning through my old and unloved terrain collection so I end up not only with painted armies but some cool painted terrain to fight over. So this update also sees the finish of a Citadel Wood that I didn't realize I had lying around. I think it is a sign of addiction when you forget what you have, right?

So on with some pictures:


Here we see the Tactical Squad, like the two previous they are armed with Missile Launcher, Flamer and Combi-Melta. They will likely combat squad to get the best use out of the Heavy and Special weapons. Unlike the other squads though they don't get a Rhino. Someone has to watch the base....also, with the recent addition of the Terminator Captain (after the points changes with the 6th Edition Codex) they will now follow him around when needed).


Here they have pushed their way through to the outskirts of the Woods I have finished. The area that the trees take up is quite extensive meaning they will make a great imposing feature on the tabletop. The bases for the trees are roughly 6" x 12" which is a pretty large area, put all three together and that is a fairly extensive piece of terrain. I think they have come out well, but they are pretty labor intensive with a lot of paint and time going into them.


The size of the trees is also pretty impressive, its great to have terrain that is actually in some sort of scale to the models, I like the fact also these trees are also capable of maybe hiding a dreadnought. Almost. Kind of.


A wide shot of all the woods and the tactical squad. Gives a pretty good example of how much of the table they would take up and how well they dwarf the marine models. I think so far these are the favorite piece of terrain I have done, purely for the impact they will have on the table top.

So that is what I have achieved since the last update, maybe I am spending too much time on terrain and not enough on the army. But I am finding it is keeping things fresh and a necessary break from the black and silver of the Iron Hands. I have also go the bike squad undercoated, with the silver trim and black wash done and have started blocking in the white for the weapons. So they are well on their way to being finished. Although I am taking the opportunity to randomly add the same check pattern on the Terminator Captain to areas of the bikes to break up the large panels a little and make them appear a little bit different.

So its the 18th of November hear and I have a Dreadnought and lets say 65% of the bikes squad left to paint. If i can focus and avoid any more terrain I am still confidant I can finish them by the end of November as planned.

I would like to also finish off their custom foam cases in December before my wife and I go away. That way I can start completely refreshed and with a clean slate in the new year. Wish me luck. Oh and I would like to start looking at making a hard case to hold the foam trays I am making, wonder if I can make a box that can hold the foams of an army allowing me to have one box and I just swap in and out what foams (and therefore what armies) are inside.

I completely understand the dog problems mate. It is insane how much trouble they can get into, especially the small ones.

The Tac squad looks good, solid painting as always. I really like the woods. I think it stands out to me because you actually made it green and living, rather than how most people paint them as dead/burned. It really makes the models come to life. If I ever decide to buy terrain, I might pick up a set... *checks the GW website* those prices though...

I think something that may help you get motivated and stay focused on painting the army (especially marine armies, which I can't stand to paint) would be to add some freehand designs. It always helps to let yourself go outside the lines and get a little wild.

A few reactions to reading this thread:
- You are insane.
- You are awesome.
- I like the double width Leman Russ tracks.
- I would change the name of the Dark Angels because it's only the 1st company who really know about the Fallen.
- And finally... What the hell does your missus think of your plan!?!

Please show how you did the double tracks please

Hey, nice to here from everyone. To answer a few questions that have been posed:

@freytag93
Yup, dogs can be crazy, but I wouldn't trade her for the world. 95% of the time she is an amazing well behaved dog.

I am really impressed by the Citadel Wood, but yes, prices for terrain are getting ridiculous, these trees have been kicking around for years, so not sure what I actually paid for them.

I have done a little freehand lines onto the bike squad which will be finished by this weekend, just to break up the big areas of black that I enjoyed doing.

@master of asgard
Yes I am insane :-)

Not really sure I am awesome, but my wife thinks so.

I really like the double tracks as well, here's to hoping the new Imperial Guard dex has Ace Tanks or similar.

Ah, you see the Dark Angel army has some fluff regarding the name and what is going on. If you go to the link to the fluff I am doing to accompany this plan it is about the 6th post down. You see its all a scheme to lure out the fallen and the rest of the army is simply bait.... I think the name suits quite well. Let me know your thoughts.

Well, my missus (wife) is very understanding and supports a lot of the crazy ideas I have, so long as I clean up after myself, keep making her nice things and let her call me a nerd every now and then she is cool. I have also convinced her to paint one of the models from the next army on the line. The Empire Knightly Order I am doing.

@ Spartan-Kun
Unfortunately I don't have any photos of putting the double tracks together, they were assembled some time ago and only just became an army in their own right. However, I do believe I have enough spare parts lying around of a Chimera I think that I can pull a small demonstration together, I will have a look and see. Stay Tuned.

Well the tide is turning and I am hitting a pretty productive streak. Not only have I finished off the bikes, but I also managed to paint both of the arms for the Ironclad Dreadnought. This leaves me just the Ironclad Body and Legs for the Iron Hands army, yay!

Straight into some photos of the Bikes (please excuse the even more shocking quality of the photos than the normal shocking):


All ten mounted marines. 8 bikes and the essential attack bike. I am pretty sure I will ALWAYS combat squad these guys. Makes the best use out of their weapons.


Here is the first combat squad, Plasma gunner and Power Weapon on the Sergeant. I had wanted two Meltaguns, but since the upgrade kit comes with a melta and plasma I did the lazy thing and took one of each, not perhaps totally sensible, but I was at a low point in energy and I had run out of Meltaguns in my bits box.....so these guys will hunt heavy infantry I think, plasma at range at least until he overheats and then charge into assault and hope the power weapon pays for itself.


The second combat squad has eyes only for tanks and 2+ armour. With a Meltagun and Multi-Melta they should provide a pretty serious distraction that hopefully will draw some attention from the Dreadnoughts, especially with a couple of bold turbo boosts to draw attention. Well that is the plan anyway.

A lot of the bikes have been pieced back together from my bits box, therefore there are a lot of "bionics" ie. I didn't have the original pieces so I stuck something else in its place.... the following photos show this off a little.



Even Iron Hands feel the need for speed and a thrill every now and then, my totally out of character jumping biker.


Close ups of the Multi-Melta attack bike and Meltagun Biker.

I enjoyed painting these guys as well, the large areas of flat paneling allow for a little decoration to easily be added. I can understand the lure of a whole bike army. (White Scars anyone?) Well I am now down to the main part of the Ironclad and then these guys are ready for the foam storage trays.

My plan for the rest of this year is hopefully going to be:

- Finish the Ironclad (Obviously)
- Do the custom foam trays for the whole army (Did I post photos of the ones for the Imperial Guard Army? Need to check and I will do both at once)
- Work out a timber carry box that said foam trays will fit inside would be great to have one box per army, but with limited space I may try to do one box that can house any on the foams. Difficulty with that will be if the number of foam trays are really different from each other. Anyway, that will sort itself out once I have cut the foam for the Iron Hands. Then I will make my decision.
- I have started looking at options to do a modular transportable gaming table. So I will briefly look at this before I go on my trip overseas. I won't be devoting heaps of time to this project, it will definitely be a now and then idea.
- Begin collecting the parts for the Warhammer: The Empire army that is next up. All Knights and Demi-Gryphs. Effective? Probably not. Intimidating? Probably. Awesome looking? Definitely. Quick to do? You betcha.

Thanks for reading.

Man, when you hit a 'productive' streak you really crank out the models!

Good work

Wow, this looks to be a monumental undertaking, my favorite kind to watch

Clicked your blog link from the what are you doing today hobbywise thread (as I often do) and was pleasantly surprised to find such a cool project

Great work so far, I'm gonna have to go back through and read a little more closely, I'll be watching!

I managed to do it, yup I finished the Iron Hands off by the end of November. (Yeah, yeah I know its December now, but I swear the Ironclad was done BEFORE December .

This means that I have now finished off my first EVER Space Marine army, and managed to trundle along to NSW Northern Knights to play my first ever game with a 3+ armor save, what a novelty. More on the battle later.

First of all here is the last piece of the puzzle, the Ironclad Dreadnought in all his shiny glory....









He is rocking a Powerfist and Seismic Hammer as well as the underslung Storm Bolter and Meltagun. He also has one Hunter Killer Missile, Frag Assault Launchers and the standard smoke launchers and searchlight. I think the model is awesome, the two fists makes it really bulky and far better proportioned than the standard Dreadnoughts.

So with the completion of the final Dreadnought the army is finished and ready for its custom foam case to be made up (already done one tray for the Rhinos and bikes).

Here is the army in all its black and silver glory:


The HQ of the army:

The Master of the Forge with Conversion Beamer and two gun servitors, Techmarine with servo harness and 3 servitors and a Terminator Captain.

Troops:

3 Tactical Squads and 2 Rhinos

Elites:

Venerable Dreadnought and Ironclad Dreadnought with 2 Drop Pods.

Fast Attack:

Bike Squad with attack Bike.

Heavy Support:

Venerable Dreadnought, Dreadnought with Drop Pod and Thunderfire Cannon.

I took them for there first game on Sunday at the NSW Northern Knights and I had high hopes for the power armored goodness. I wasn't disappointed, the Power Armour combined with their Iron Hands Chapter traits really kept them hanging in there.

We played a mission from the Battle Mission Book from 5th edition which was a nice change of pace. Unfortunately though, after holding 2 of the 3 objectives for most of the battle a determined Mephiston and an assault squad with Sanguinary Priest pushed me away from the central objective. My opponent ended up with no troops left (not a concern in this mission as once you had held an objective it was yours until your opponent took it back, think the Dawn of War computer game) and we ran out of time to continue the fight. I still had plenty of troops left, so maybe with more time I could have stolen the central objective back, but it was not to be, and there still was an angry Mephiston clinging to life jumping around like no one cared. I am beginning to hate that guy. Twice I have faced him now and both times I would say he was the difference between winning and losing for me. Ah next time he will cop a conversion beamer to the face.


Here were my glorious Iron Hands controlling 2/3rds of the board by turn 2. They stuck in there until the end of Turn 5 when we had to finish the game due to time.


I had my opponent penned in his deployment zone for much of the battle. I just couldn't keep him there and Mephiston and the Priest starting flexing their muscles.

SO there you have it. A completed Iron Hands army and their first battle. I am really happy with how they turned out and how they performed on the table. With some more experience and better tactics I am sure they won't fail me. (I mean really, who in there right mind advances on Blood Angels, damn I was stupid with that one, should of held back and made him come to me. All the while shooting the hell out of them. I just can't help myself).

I have started the custom foam trays for the Iron Hands and have finished the Imperial Guard ones. I need to do some form of carrying box so the rest of my year is going to be modelling accessories rather than models. So I plan on starting the Empire Knightly Order in the new year. I think I have had a successful year at the start of this project.

Thanks for reading and if I don't post again this year thank you to those of you who are reading. Stay safe and enjoy the festive time of year and I hope to kick off 2014 with a bang and get through even more armies.

Iron Hands are looking great, its nice to also see someone as mad as me project wise

Very cool, and grats on actually finishing something, it's harder to do than one might think

Happy New Year to all and I certainly hope your festive season was, well, festive.

I am back and almost running at full steam, I have finished assembling and cleaning the Horses for my first 16 Knights for the next army on the list - The Empire. I am taking a break (although hopefully brief) from 40k and am delving into the twisted world of Warhammer. To help me in this endeavor I am going to collect the following army:

2,000 Point Warhammer Fantasy Empire Army – The Obsidian Order

Grandmaster Garak ‘The Obsidian’ - Obsidian Blade, Obsidian Lodestone, Charmed Shield

Captain Jaegar ‘The Black’ - Battle Standard Bearer, Full Plate Armour, Lance, Barded Warhorse, Shield, Lichebone Pendant
Captain Balin ‘The Ebon’ - Full Plate Armour, Barded Warhorse, Obsidian Amulet, Relic Blade, Dragonhelm
Warrior Priest Mosiah - Heavy Armour, Barded Warhorse, Van Horstmann’s Speculum, Great Weapon, Shield

The Obsidian Inner Circle ‘Obsidian’s Guard’ - Inner Circle Preceptor Belial, Inner Circle Musician, Inner Circle Standard Bearer with Steel Standard, 6 Inner Circle Knights
The Black’s Guard - Preceptor Jorge, Musician, Standard Bearer, 6 Knights
The Ebon’s Guard - Preceptor Arne, Musician, Standard Bearer, 6 Knights
The Honour Guard - Preceptor Margariz, Musician, Standard Bearer, 6 Knights

Outcasts of the Order - Inner Circle Preceptor Mannuss, Inner Circle Musician, Inner Circle Standard Bearer, 3 Demigryph Knight, all 6 Demigryph Knights carry Halberds.

Total List = 2,000 Points - 46 Mounted

The current plan will be to spread the Characters out, one to each Regiment of Knights, This may change as I gain experience. I don't expect it to be even remotely competitive, especially if someone brings a level 4 Wizard Lord with them....but, I just want to see the look on someones face when I deploy the army. That and I believe the army will be fairly easy to paint quickly so I can get on to the next army. This year I really want to try and get 5 armies done. That's an improvement of 3 from last year, but I didn't have a full year last year and I also didn't 100% know what I was doing then either.

Anyway, since I have no pictures I would like to pose a question to anyone still out there interested. I am doing a Knightly Order called the Obsidian Order, how should I go about painting them? (In BLACK you moron!) Please keep in mind I just came off the back of an Iron Hands army so want to try and keep it away from just all black. The ideas I have had thus far are:

- The Knights are all black, but their horses have silver barding.
- Mix up Silver and Black ink to make a sort of metallic black and use this all over. <---- This is currently my favourite idea.
- Bite the bullet and paint them all black (I mean I named them right? I knew what I was getting into).
- Some brilliant individual has an even better idea? (Please, pretty please).
- Combination of the above.

I hope there are still interested readers out there and I apologize if I went dark for longer than I had intended. Look forward to entertaining you for 2014 and lets all make it a good one.

Hmmmmmmm... maybe the silver black mix. Maybe with some normal silver spotted in too.

You sir, are an absolute nutter.

I salute you and wish you all the best.


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And congratulations on completing the Iron Hands project.

Well having had a lot of opinions and great ideas from the modelling community around me I present 4 concepts (they are really pretty similar, just slight difference) for painting the horses of my Knightly Order. Once I have sorted this out I will then work out how to do the riders.


This is the "Control" Model. It is simply black with a couple of gloss varnish coats. It is a really basic way of achieving the gloss black of Obsidian, but I am hoping to avoid it and get something a little more visually interesting.


This is my least favorite option. The red is a little too obvious and the black just looks like it has muddied up the armor.


Definitely a front runner, the green is there, but looks more like it is 'under' the black.


Another firm favourite (and my wife's choice) again it is mainly black with a nice blue highlight.

So, if the good people of the Hobby world would give me their wise and considered opinion on what way I should go and then I can move on to how to do the Knights themselves.

Thanks for reading.

I cast my vote with your Wife, usually a safe bet amirite I do like the look of that one the most though.

Hi all,

I would like to thank everyone for their input and advice on the paint scheme front, some very inventive people out there. Some of the ideas are probably beyond my current painting abilities and therefore may be reserved for attempts on my characters.

With the 4 schemes painted above I seem to be getting mixed reactions (as in I think I have people voting for each of the 4 color schemes which I was hoping wouldn't happen).

So I pose another idea, I happen to have 4 regiments of Knights in the Army, should I do each regiment one of the 4 options or do you think it will divide the overall look of the army too much?

Thanks again for all the advice.

My experience has been that, if the bases match, you can get away with most anything. Honestly I would try to pick one if I were you, but I know it's hard to do. I've had entire projects stall, for years and sometimes indefinitely, because of the question you're facing down.

I'm going to cast a vote on your wifes side, thats my favourite and remember the wife is never wrong lol

Personally, I like the red actually. But I agree that as long as the bases match, you can get away with having 4 different types. You could say that the under color is the province color that the knight was previously from before he swore his oaths (or something like that).

The hobby community has been a great help with the armor for my Knights horses. I have decided to go with the blue and black scheme (although I will likely tweak it a bit to bring more blue through the black, but that is another story). Now I need help in deciding how to do the armor of the Knights themselves. I have a couple of samples that I invite the community to have a look at.

Firstly, this is simply a black undercoat (with a bit of gloss) to see what pure black would look like. Now I am not a fan, I feel that the Knight and horse blend together too much. But it is a good control model.


I haven't done one up, but I guess the option would be to imitate the horses armor on the Knight as well, but I am concerned it will suffer the same as above and just blend together, I could try a really dark blue with sharp edge highlights as which continues to carry the bluish theme?

Onto some other ideas.....


A more traditional paint scheme for a knight (please note I didn't paint this guy, he is an eBay hand me down). It is definitely a contrast to the horse. Not sure if it is too much though. I like the use of blue on the ribbons and the like, ties it into the horse a little.


I don't mind the bronze look, I think it is a little more muted than the pure silver guy. Gold and black also go quite well together, again would use blue on the ribbons and leather to tie back to the horse.


On the idea of 'gold' going well with black, here is the bronze sample with gold highlighting added. It is quite startling, but maybe a bit much over the whole army? Maybe could be used on characters only and the rest of the guys are the duller bronze?

On that idea, maybe I could do the knights in either bronze (as above) OR a boltgun metal type with a heavy black wash and then the characters are in shining gold or mithril silver to have them stand out from the crowd?

Anyway, any and all opinions are welcome and very much appreciated. The only other test I might do is a dark blue armor and an armor exactly like the horse.

Last pic before I go, what I have ready for painting with this army......


All 36 Knights and two of the Characters (who will be a Warrior Priest and Grandmaster) to finish off the 2,000 Points I need 6 Demigryph Knights and the Empire General box so I can kit bash two Captains. So very close to having all the models bought. Oh and yes that is my take on a Salamanders Captain I did ages ago hiding in the top right of the photo, not sure how he got out of his box, but I think he is one of the best models I have ever done.

Thanks for reading.

That's a lot of prepped knights!

Hmm. Maybe try boltgun metal with a black wash or two, and then a lighter silver for your characters maybe?

I really love your crazy plan! This is the type of plan that I dream of doing myself. For now, I shall live vicariously through you. I like the blue though my vote would have been for the green because green is my favorite color.

Thanks for the input. It is always a little crazy to jump into ambitious hobby plans with both feet.

However, I have been at this modelling game for a long time and thought it was time to focus my energies. I have so many models lying about that it was past time to collate them into usable armies. Therefore, some of the armies are almost done before I even get to them.

I would never discourage someone from trying to make their dreams reality, but as I say to a mate of mine, who has just started collecting (Space Wolves) and want to do "the entire Chapter", first things first, get a core together that you like using, then try to focus it towards a particular Great Company and then rinse and repeat. Small steps, this avoids the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Good luck with anything you do decide to do.