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Next shot. Pretty much done save for the camo & extra bits that are easier to add after the camo is on...






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The next two. The one on the right was cobbled together from bits by me, the neat one on the left was built by Whalemusic360.

I like Whalemusic360's guy. It's a good pose and little things like the knife blade under the barrel really add to the character. I can't wait to see the finished product.

They look pretty cool. Are they getting camo cloaks?

Not these guys, they're sternguard. Their armor is their camo (check back to page 7 to see one finished). I'll have the camo pattern, details added & basing done on these two before the holiday is over I think.

I really like the little blades that Whalemusic360 salted all over his build... I'll add some to mine eventually, but it's much easier to do the camo pattern without all the extra bits.

Yes that Whalemusic360 model is looking very good, although that bayonet on the rifle can't be used because of the length of the barrel, but hey, they are Space Marines...

I like the mix of older and newer models though, makes your veterans really seem like vets when they use the old models.

I like the kneeling guy, but i am not a space marine player but can vanguard take sniper rifles? or is it just a "because it looks sweet"?
Oh and i like the name.

Vanguards are the guys with the jump packs with bling. Those are sternguard. No, they can't take sniper rifles but they do have kraken ammo, which can be fired from 30" away. That's seems pretty close to a sniper rifle.

@Psycho_Mantis: Check out the earliest pages of the blog, it's all text, but in there is the discussion of the Tranquility Sniper unit (which was not made up by me, but was detailed in the 1st Ed. rule book). The Mantis Warrior Tranquility Campaign snipers are one of the first uses of the term "sniper" in relation to a space marine (there were no scouts as we currently know them back then), and they are depicted in full marine armor carrying a bolt gun. So... the Sternguard are pretty much a perfect fit... veteran marines, special long range ammo for their bolt guns, full armor. So, I've done what I can to make them look more "sniper like" by adding sniper rifle bits (scope, long barrel and flash suppressor) to their bolt guns, however they are not "scouts" in the true 5th edition sense of the word, so I resist the urge to go overboard with it. Lastly, the finished pattern for these guys is "Tranquility Campaign camo", so there is no need for anything like a camo cloak as they're already in camo. Granted the patter is for a distant galaxy far, far away... but for these veterans it's a badge of honor and service... no matter how impractical bright yellow w/ black plants silouetts actually is as camo.

Thanks guys! I added the older style combat knife on purpose. Its shorter, so no stabbing, but very wide, so I figured he could still slash with it if he runs out of ammo, which seems likely given they have been away for so long. Used some DE spikes to add to him and some plastic tubes from GF9 to make new barrels. Let me use up some of the bolters I messed up drilling out in a non-basing way lol. The bolter arm is from the older style marines that faced at less of an angle as current ones and the bolt pistol is from assault marines!

Now back to your regularly scedualed PMblog!

argh! you are writing too much!

Well, the barrel on Whalemusic's guy fell prey to the cat... however, I gave it a bit of an upgrade and replaced the plastic gun barrel with copper rod... suppressor fits perfectly.

Camo is done on both of the figs I'm currently painting, just finishing up the basing. I must admit that I'm pretty torn on adding the spiky bits. I guess I'm just not as sold on it as everyone else. I admit that Whalemusic's fig looks great with them... just can't seem to convince myself totally that it's the way to go on the snipers... seems very un-sniper like to have all these pointy bits sticking out, snagging on everything within range... Have to ponder it some more.

They are 9 foot tall yellow guys. I think the form over function ship has sailed. Would you put a scrap of paper and some wax on a flame thrower? A space marine would be honored. SPIKZEZ!!!!

Dang cats......

LOL... love that "ship has sailed" bit. OK, in spite of my reservations, appropriate spikey-bitz have been added. But now you guys will have to wait longer to see them as I have to carefully paint all the new bits.

Drrrrrrrrr... cats... It's a good thing that the copper rod fit right, I have had that problem before.

Please excuse the, er, innuendo.

Just thought I'd post a semi-funny photo. Just goes to show that battle brothers will go to any lengths to help one another... in this case, one Sternguard is holding the other's grass in place while it dries... :-)



On another note, their might be a brief interruption in your regularly scheduled Sternguard production as all the parts for my Trianquility Sniper Veteran Dread have arrived!! Might not be able to contain my irrational exuberance long enough to finish the other two sternguard before taking on the dread (sorry Whalemusic... won't be long). We'll see at any rate.

Yggdrasil wrote:

Grey Knight Luke wrote: I vote that the dread gets deployed with your TF cannon (Im guessing you got all this already) then the pod comes in turn 2+ without anything in it, meanwhile your other pods drop in. Not a bad use of 35 pts IMO.

Ok, that's for sure a pretty interesting tactic in the WH40k GAME...

Still, I don't think I would see a SM commander "waste" an empty Drop Pod launch on a battlefield.

e.g. :



Tactical Briefing by Captain Gitsplitta : - "Ok, so Venerable Dreadnought Brother Alpha will be sent in the fray with Squad Invictus at 0600 local time.
Then, 15 minutes later, the wrath of the Holy Emperor will rain upon our foes with an direct Drop Pod assault on the enemy stronghold, led by Brother-Sergeant Furioso and its Sternguards, Brother-Sarcophagus Tempest, and erh... how do I put it? Ah, yes... A third, empty Drop Pod."

Brother-Sergeant Impetus, leader of the eager-to-be-committed-and-unleash-their-fury-but-kept-in-reserve-in-the-Holy-Battle-Barge squad: - "Excuse me, Brother-Captain, would you mind if we got a lift through that EMPTY Drop Pod?!?!?"



I mean, that is a good and not so expensive maneuver, but I thought that your Mantis Warriors were all about the fluff??? Just my point of view of course uh...

Still, Grey Knight Luke, thanks for seconding the TL Lascannon on the Dread...

Cheers!!

Ouch. I just want to point out that there are empty drop pod assaults that DO happen in the W40k universe. Now would it be fluffy for the mantis warriors? maybe not. However, tactically it gives more flexibility to the force at large allowing for an extra drop pod to drop turn 1. So it may make the game a lot better.

No worries. I havent got around to my Sternguard or their Pod yet either (The sniper is going to be hangin with some BA untill i figure out what to make the other 4 sterns with).

OK, here is Tranquility Sniper #2 done. Combat blades on the gun and right forearm, chainsword tooth "ornamentation" on thigh-plates and left forearm. I know the camo pattern on the face is a bit weird... didn't quite turn out the way I wanted... Looks a bit bird-like... but what-the-hell... he's a "beakie" after all! I painted the combat blades black as they'd kind of match the camo pattern that way.



I'm in the process of "upgrading" the first TS with pointy-bitz, and should have #3 finished tomorrow night. Then I'll make all of them stand for a "group photo".

Edit: New pic... noticed some flaws that needed to be fixed and figured the back view wasn't much... so I went for a better front view. - GS

I like the camo face actually. Kinda tribal lookin.

Yeah I'm liking the face camo as well, makes sense to mix it up a bit as well. They wouldn't all have their camo in the same place

I love it! The blade on the barrel of the gun is a really cool touch.

I like that curved Bayonett you've gone with there, what did you use to make it?

The bayonette (and I try to make them stick out a bit from the suppressor but it doesn't always work) and the fore-arm blade (which you can't really see in this pic) are the two blades from the standard dark eldar gun. Whatever it's called...

Splinter Rifle

I actually like that it doesn't stick out. being that CC is not in the spirirt of " snipers " should they be doing their job correctly. However still adds a nice touch to the model. Toughens the look up.

Ps...I like the camo. I think you should do assault troops in this paint scheme

That looks really awesome. The bird-likeness is actually something to be emphasized, not avoided. it sort of adds that kind of "predatory" feel. Also, the bayonet would look really cool if it stuck out a little bit more.

Hope to have one more for you tonight (just need to do the basing), then probably a hiatus while the misses recovers from surgery.

@Solar_lion: I agree with you that it's a neat camo pattern, and I've already expended the models that will get it to 1-2 sternguard, drop pods for same, veteran dread, drop pod for same and my Pedro Cantor equivalent (chapter master). If I make everything tranquility pattern though, they won't be special anymore... plus SOMETHING had to look preying mantis like. As such... I have other plans for my assault squads.




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Chapterhouse debued (sp?) the model for my Mantis Warrior shoulder pads!

You can find two photos at the following thread:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/297880.page

I am very pleased with the result. Nick and company have been a breeze to work with, and were very responsive to my ideas. The new head design is based off a photograph of an actual preying mantis, which I then styalized & passed on to Chapterhouse for tweaking. The chain border has special significance. As a medieval knight would wear a golden chain around his neck as an outward symbol of his fealty to his lord, so too do the MW's wear a gold chain as an outward symbol of their loyalty and dedication to the emperor.

I think it looks pretty spiff.

Like the chain idea. - Imagine that

Sorry I don't have the actual pictures loaded, I'm doing this from my phone so my photo options are limited.

Gah, False hopes!