Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, as you know, I've just started up my first Leman Russes. Once I finished the first one, I knew the scheme, and in making the second one, I got down the process. This complete, it was time to go into high productivity mode.

The first russ I was able to get at a discount from someone I knew, and the second I bought at-price from my FLGS. I had decided that I was going to make more, of course, so I had my FLGS order me another one. I asked how long it would take for the order to get in. They told me that their GW rep was pretty behind, so it could take a few weeks. I put the order in, but then went to the internet and bought a russ from an eBay store.

Two days later, I got my russ. To my shock and surprise, I opened up the bubble wrap package, and TWO full russ sprues fell out onto the table. I emailed the seller, because I didn't want to accept such a windfall without at least notifying them. They emailed me back and said "keep it".

So, then I had two russes!

I decided to do both of them at the same time now that I have my process. Things were assembled quickly, and, as usual, the painting on such a scale was a bit of a chore, but it did make things go quick. There was nothing all that different about it, accept that I've got more practice, and so some things that used to take a fair bit of correction and reworking went more smoothly.

The only thing new was that, while at my FLGS, someone suggested to me that I do some sponge-work. In this case, I used little pieces of ripped-out army foam that I still had lying around. I just ripped off the end a bit, dabbed, and then applied the little black dots everywhere, especially on corners. It actually came out rather well at making things even grimier than they already were.

Almost before I was done with them, my third russ arrived earlier than expected. I picked it up and did the whole thing in just three days. I'd have done it in tandem again, but it turns out that, even at the deep discounting I was getting, I can only afford SO many russes.

Anyways, I got them all done, and took some pictures.







They are the "Steel Badger", "Iconoclast", and "Lawbringer", respectively.

I'm just about as proud as I can be of my russ collection, now that it's done (for now...). I like that they still fit the theme of my guardsmen, are so easy to paint, and I love just how grimy they all look.

Also, what has kind of come as a surprise is the scope of what I've accomplished. Three russes in 10 days is rather fast, even for me, and, more importantly, I've gotten just over a thousand points done in a month. It took me three years to accomplish that from when I first started. I guess that's what armor does for you.

Anyways, tomorrow I'm going to play my first game with five finished russes, and take some hopefully awesome pictures. In the meantime, they certainly look cool lined up on my bookshelf.



Hope you like it. More pictures to come soon.

Those all LOOK AMAZING
Sorry For caps but hot digity damn!

Making a Guard Armd Coy? They do look awesome. Nice paint scheme.

Mat

I agree, look great. Love the scheme, keep up the good work.

Nicely done. From the weathering to the pattern to the free hand, all very nice.

If I were to be constructive (as we should be looking for that kind of input to improve) some of the detail gets lost. Some bits of contrast to make the detail stand out. Maybe more of a wash in the recessed areas. I don't think your style of painting needs highlights.

All in all very impressive, let alone 10 days. Let us know how they fair in battle!

Thanks!

They actually do have a touch more contrast, it's just part of my endless struggle with my camera and my light box to get things to look right.

Here's an example of them in flourescent light (well, the guns weren't done at the time but still).

I am truly jealous. Those are awesome looking.

Very cool. Great looking tanks and infantry.

These look boss. I love the bright blue and white stripes! nice job.

Lookin great as usual, ros!

They look fantastic.

Interesting choice, making so many vanquishers.

Or are they magnetized?

Thanks, all!

They're not magnetized, but they are swappable. #41 has already been an eradicator, and exterminator, and a vanquisher.

Basically, I changed the way the guns are mounted in the turrets so that the gun ends are on bits of plasticard tubing that I can just slide on in and it fits nice and snug. They can't elevate anymore, but so what?

Those are some great looking tanks! Nice Job!

amazing tanks! I love how you have so many.... lol.... 1,000,000 men lost and 1,000 tanks destroyed but it was VICTORY

Well done, hope to see more of your armourd goodness in the months to come

 Ailaros wrote:
They can't elevate anymore, but so what?

They can't shoot at my precious flyers?

Muwahahaha

One can never have too many Russes.

I like how they're looking, but they're a little stark in comparison to how clean your guardsmen are. They both look good, but they need something to tie them together.

I love the hand done Greek lettering on the sides, I assume that's their names in Greek?

Looking good mate. Nice and simple!

Awesome tanks mate! The blue and white stripes are a nice touch to the slightly damaged tan and grey colour scheme

They look amazing!

But why are they Blue/white and tan while the infantry are red/maroon on white?

Awesome looking tanks. The weathering is well done and ive always liked the idea of the striping along the front of the tracks to break up the camo color scheme a little.

Great job Ailaros. Those Russes look awesome.

Would you share what you did to the barrels? Not only do they look longer but they somehow look different than the standard Russ barrel.

Keep it up. Artillery next?

Very nice the blue striping works very well with the brown/cream camo.

Thanks, everyone!

So, the names of the tanks are in greek, yes. And by greek, I mean greek that I've changed some of the letters around to make sound nicer to my non-greek-speaking ears.

For the barrels, it was a matter of chopping off the back, gouging out a bit of the plastic to make y-axis mounting lugs rather than x-axis, and throwing the barrels onto a bit of plasticard tubing. Easy as pie:



As for why blue and white striping, it's because blue and white are the colors of Folera. The brown is just the color of the flak armor.

It's sort of like how the colors of the united states are red, white, and blue, but american soldiers don't where red, white and blue uniforms. They just wear camo.

Now yes, americans DID used to wear blue uniforms. Similarly, it's the reason why my guardsmen wear white.

You do see blue show up in other places in my army, though, such as in my officer of the fleet, or the sashes for my old senior officer and ogryn bone 'ead. Also my flag objective:



And then, as a result, the various vehicle corps are going to make use of blue and white recognition stripes.

As for their similarity to the infantry, I agree that it's a bit of a stretch. Part of it is that I didn't want a brown or white color scheme for the tanks. They do share some of the camo, but I agree that the infantry are of a bit of a different style (not being washed, mostly), but I think I'll just have to live with that for now.

At least they look Kind of cool with the infantry:





As for what's next, I'm starting to strip my old chimera blanks as I write. Because of the way this league is set up, I've got a really good chance of placing in the top 3, which means I'll get some amount of cash to make a couple more.

I'm not intending on going full mech (with infantry platoons), but I really could stand to have two proper artillery platofms and four proper chimeras done.

After that... I genuinely don't know. I feel like once I get my vehicles up to shape, I really am basically done with my guard army.

a guard army is never truly done...just put on hold

 Chaoticredneck wrote:
a guard army is never truly done...just put on hold

My guard army's been "done" three times.