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As I tweak my list for a 1500 point tournament army, I've decided to put commissars in it. I want two of them: one in my first infantry squad so he can "blob" up with another infantry squad and then a carbon copy commissar in the infantry squad in the second platoon. The squads will have voxes and the PCS and CCS will also have voxes. The CCS may also have a regimental standard though that seems like overkill. I can't reroll a reroll.

I use Cadian officer figures as commissars because I don't like the commissar figures (yeah, I'm a raving lunatic). The GW models just look too froofy to me.

Here are pics of the two commissars. Both will use PW and bolt pistols, which means a weapon swap for the plasma pistol model. He also needs a painting upgrade. The priest is staying on the bench so he won't get any prettier for a long, long, long time (next IG codex maybe?).


Has anyone else used commissars for "blob" units? How well is that working for you?

Can you actually take commisairs in normal infantry squads??


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aand get up a picture of ur sly marbo conversion

Imperial Monkey wrote:Can you actually take commisairs in normal infantry squads??


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aand get up a picture of ur sly marbo conversion

Yes, you can take commissars in normal infantry squads. In fact, that seems like the very best place to put them since you can "blob" two or three squads together and create a nice stubborn "tarpit". It also rerolls a failed morale check after the commissar executes a model. It just makes no sense to give the commissar a plasma pistol since he only has one wound and an overheat could eliminate him - making a tarpit tactic impossible.

My Cadian version of Sly is not painted yet.

I've probably got too much on my table today but I thought I would share my mess with you. As stated earlier, I'm making some modifications for a 1500 point tournament list. The tourney is on March 6th so I have a little bit of time to get things done.

Here's what remains to be finished:

Sly Marbo (counts as): 1 figure
grenade launchers: 4 figures
Autocannons: 2 stands
vet sergeant with shotgun: 1 figure
Commissar weapon swap: 1 figure
Melta gunners: 3 figures

How hard can it be to paint about a dozen Cadians? Especially since I'm only painting them to a neat tabletop standard...
Well, anyone that's read through this blog knows that I've been working on the melta gunners for about seven months.

Here's some pics to illustrate some of my recent hijinks.


Final Vanquisher turret conversion


Convincing my Commissar to give up his plasma pistol.


Marbo (Cadian counts as)

I hope your building/converting/painting days are more productive than mine.

I'll post some pics of what I get finished today. I'm starting with the commissar weapon swap. He may also get highlights because he looks too bland. My other commissar puts him to shame.






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After further review, I may have to add one more melta gun to my tourney project list.

I finished the Commissar weapon swap and he's tabletop ready (though he still needs a future paint upgrade).

Here are the pics:



I've moved on to my two autocannon crews. I only need to finish painting the two autocannons since the crews were taken from previously finished lascannon teams.




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The two autocannon teams are finished. Moving on to melta gunners.

This blog is very inspiring. I like the turret conversion and it has given me some good ideas to try out on my own tanks. Keep up the good work

Thanks Nemissary. I read so many awesome blogs this weekend that I almost didn't get any painting done. Dakka has a pretty active community and I'm happy to contribute when I have time.

I did manage to get some painting done. As stated earlier, the commissar and the autocannon crews are done. I also decided not to use a veteran sergeant with a shotgun for this tournament, opting instead for one with a laspistol and CCW since I already have such a figure ready to go.

I also finished my four grenadiers tonight. The pics are below. Yes, these aren't the three that I showed you earlier in my blog. I'm saving those for another squad. I used to hate the grenadier figs because they're so hard to put together, but after painting them, I've decided that I like them. They're easy to paint and they make a nice break from lasguns.








All I have left for the 1500 point tournament is my Cadian Marbo and the three hated melta gunners. Marbo is primed so he will take much work. The melta gunners are all done except for detailing but since I hate them, it will probably be the last night before the tournament when I finish them.

I also have some Old Crow stuff on the way so that I can make a Hydra. I don't need it for the tournament but I liked Flinty's idea so much that I borrowed it. It helps that I like Hydras and that I happen to have an old MKII Rhino sitting around doing nothing. Anyone know what version of the Rhino is GW's current model? Is it up to MK III yet?

I hope your projects are going well too, and I want to give a special shout out to the three guys out there that are still following this blog. Thanks men, you're my inspiration!

Watching my list of Dakka threads got to be pretty boring tonight. Not many updates. I guess most folks are off watching reruns of Olympic ice dancing (Eldar and Dark Eldar players) or maybe catching the hockey games (Chaos players). But the Emperor never sleeps and neither do his tech priests. I actually started working on my veteran melta gunners again since they and Marbo are all that stand between me and my 1500 point tournament army. With the tournament less than two weeks away, I've run out of time for frivolity and betting on the local servitor races.

Just one quick pic because I'm still working. I have a lot of details to add and I really hate the shine on these figures (due to the Deneb Mud wash). Thank the Omnissiah for DullCote.



I have two Forge World melta gunners so I see these boring metal models getting shunted to the side one day soon. I just have to figure out what to do for a third replacement figure.

That's my quick update. At least one blog on Dakka got updated tonight.

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JB wrote:@Kanluwen

Thanks! You make a good point. People often dislike the common standard. Ultramarines are the vanilla SM and Cadians are the norm for IG. However, while I often see Ultramarines painted up as in the Codex, I've never seen a tabletop Cadian army that uses the GW basic painting instructions. Maybe the reason people like variant schemes with Cadians is because you can use them - unlike the warriors of Ultramar.

Yeah, I agree. For some reason, I actually rather like the 39th Cadian "Xenobane" colors, it was in the 4th ed codex.

I know you spent alot on the cadian melta gunners, but something you could have done is buy the melta gun bits from gdub, removed the hands around the grips and then sling them over their backs.

Gavo wrote:

JB wrote:@Kanluwen

Thanks! You make a good point. People often dislike the common standard. Ultramarines are the vanilla SM and Cadians are the norm for IG. However, while I often see Ultramarines painted up as in the Codex, I've never seen a tabletop Cadian army that uses the GW basic painting instructions. Maybe the reason people like variant schemes with Cadians is because you can use them - unlike the warriors of Ultramar.

Yeah, I agree. For some reason, I actually rather like the 39th Cadian "Xenobane" colors, it was in the 4th ed codex.

I like green uniform schemes so the 39th colors look pretty good to me. The sand colored helmet is not so appealing. I guess they needed something to clash with all of that green.

Ennkay wrote:I know you spent alot on the cadian melta gunners, but something you could have done is buy the melta gun bits from gdub, removed the hands around the grips and then sling them over their backs.

Slinging them is not a bad idea but I actually like the heavy backpacks and hoses that the Cadian melta guns require. I want the whole ensemble so I guess I'll end up converting a few figures into melta gunners. That may be a future project after the Hydras and maybe some Leman Russes. I also need to weather all of my vehicles. My Tamiya weathering kits are gathering dust right now.

I'm still planning to finish my melta gunners and Marbo this week before the 1500 point tournament on Saturday. But I feel the need to head to my FLGS today to pick up a Chimera, some new putty, and maybe some more sheet styrene.

What's driving me to get yet another Chimera (I have eight already that are built and painted) are my new Old Crow bits (they arrived this week) that I will use to make my own Hydra Flak Tanks. I got the idea from Flinty who used a Rhino chassis for his conversion (see photo below). I'm more traditional (as you might have noticed from my Cadians) so I want Chimera chassis for my two Hydras. Flinty's blog here on Dakka is well worth a read for folks interested in a very unique and 21st century modern warfare looking IG army.

Here's a pic of Flinty's conversion. He didn't really explain the details of his process but I have a Rhino chassis and did some rough fitting yesterday. It looks a hell of a lot easier to use a Rhino than a Chimera.



I don't know if anyone is really interested in this conversion but you're going to get to see it anyway. I'll lay it out step by step in tutorial fashion. The Old Crow bits are extremely well cast (dare I say better than Forge World) but I don't know how well they'll take paint and glue. I'll also discuss the costs of doing it my way versus simply buying a Forge World conversion kit.

Comments and suggestions are welcome, as usual.

What my brother came up with(I will use it later...) is to use the hydra gun from the planetstrike defences (ageis defence line, i think its called) But yeh...i like it

also...don't really know why but the plasma pistol looks odly good with a white casing :S

Loving those Griffon crew members and Sergeant conversions!

@JB - Thanks for the reference and the comments

There isn't that much to the conversion to be honst, hence the lack of explanation. All the parts are pretty obvious in the picture. I used the Predator kit as a base and picked up a couple of extra Lascannon sponsons to make the extended Autocannon. Old Crow tactical turret and 50mm RFAC barrels complete the picture, then bodge them together

Good luck with the Chimera conversion. Looking forward to how it looks with a more traditional chassis.

Another idea perhaps would be to mod the chimera to use the artillery vehicle front and push the troop transport top bit to the rear like these ones by Endtransmission

Imperial Monkey wrote:What my brother came up with(I will use it later...) is to use the hydra gun from the planetstrike defences (ageis defence line, i think its called) But yeh...i like it

also...don't really know why but the plasma pistol looks odly good with a white casing :S

I suspect we'll start seeing a lot of scratchbuilt Hydras with the Aegis quad defence gun. It's a nice piece and greatly simplifies conversion requirements. I like the gun but I dislike a lot of other components in that kit. I may trade for one down the road but I don't plan to pay for a set. The bastion is OK but the little walls bother me.

CadianXV wrote:Loving those Griffon crew members and Sergeant conversions!

Thanks! I'll post some pics once I have them painted.

Flinty wrote:@JB - Thanks for the reference and the comments

There isn't that much to the conversion to be honst, hence the lack of explanation. All the parts are pretty obvious in the picture. I used the Predator kit as a base and picked up a couple of extra Lascannon sponsons to make the extended Autocannon. Old Crow tactical turret and 50mm RFAC barrels complete the picture, then bodge them together

Good luck with the Chimera conversion. Looking forward to how it looks with a more traditional chassis.

Another idea perhaps would be to mod the chimera to use the artillery vehicle front and push the troop transport top bit to the rear like these ones by Endtransmission

Thanks for pointing out endtransmission's blog. I don't know how I missed it but it was new to me. Now I'm inspired to start another round of resin casting.

My Hydra conversion hit a snag when both of my FLGSs had no Chimeras (the new ones won't come out until March 20th) and no green stuff. Since I have to wait for 20 days, I guess I'll finish up my tournament army and maybe work on my Kasrkin squad (the dudes in the white armor). They need some touchups, two new melta gunners, and some work on their bases.

I also need to replace all of my vehicle antennas. The replacements need to be cheap, easy to replace, and flexible so that they don't break. I've got some ideas to try out.

Thanks for the tutorials on putty molding techniques, I've been using silicone rubber to make molds and always wondered how the putty would work. Keep up the good work!

For antennas, have you tried guitar string? Cut to a short-ish length, and it'll stand up by itself, and looks great. Cut longer sections to make 'whip' antennas.

Just be careful when handling them- a friend of mine didn't realise my Predator had one on, and the wire pierced his palm when he went to pick it up!

I tend to use florist/gardening wire it's cheap and cheerful. I still have loads from the 100m roll I picked up about 5 years ago for a few quid. The Old Crow stuff looks awesome and the more I look at it the more I want lots.....

I like the conversions, and the way you've been able to bolster your amount of bits with the resin casting, I may do that sometime myself now . Do you plan on adding the shield or anything more to the artillery tank?

BLACKHAND wrote:Thanks for the tutorials on putty molding techniques, I've been using silicone rubber to make molds and always wondered how the putty would work. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Have you posted any helpful info about the silicone rubber molds? I'm heading in that direction next.

CadianXV wrote:For antennas, have you tried guitar string? Cut to a short-ish length, and it'll stand up by itself, and looks great. Cut longer sections to make 'whip' antennas.

Just be careful when handling them- a friend of mine didn't realise my Predator had one on, and the wire pierced his palm when he went to pick it up!

I have guitar strings but I know that they're pretty sharp sometimes. I'm not planning to use them as antenna material.

Llamahead wrote:I tend to use florist/gardening wire it's cheap and cheerful. I still have loads from the 100m roll I picked up about 5 years ago for a few quid. The Old Crow stuff looks awesome and the more I look at it the more I want lots.....

I thought about the florist wire. I already have lots of it but I don't plan to use it for antennas. It does make good cabling though. Thank Flinty for turning folks on to Old Crow. A few other folks pointed out some pure Old Crow win too. I forget who was using the light wheeled trucks but they looked pretty good.

Karl Deathwolf wrote:I like the conversions, and the way you've been able to bolster your amount of bits with the resin casting, I may do that sometime myself now . Do you plan on adding the shield or anything more to the artillery tank?

Casting takes time but it is very rewarding when you get everything right. I plan to do some sculpting and then cast a few original items that I want en masse for my IG. I don't know if I will build gun shields for my Griffons. Only the Forge World version had such shields and they don't make much sense for a long range artillery piece. As far as I know, real world self-propelled artillery either goes fully armored or goes without any armor at all. I may build a shield just to prove that it can be done. Tech priests just love to push the envelope.

Well please don't force yourself to put a shield on the griffins if you don't want to, its just something I thought would look good on it.

I really like the gun on your marbo conversion, looks very similar to the Walther arms 2000 rifle.

Also your hydra is coming along nicely. Would love to see more pictures.

I havn't done a specific tutorial on silicone casting but have included some mini tuts in my blog here,

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/276630.page

Hope it helps, your welcome to PM me with any questions

Karl, no worries. I think the Forge World gun shields look cool but I'm not really leaning in that direction now.

Da Big Mek, thanks. You do realize, however, that the pic of the Hydra conversion is Flinty's project. I'm putting my hydras on Chimera chassis once GW releases more Chimeras (March 20th).

Blackhand, thanks! It may take a few months, but I am planning to make some silicone molds.






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Well, today is a tournament day. The 11th Cadian goes out to do battle with a lean, mean universe of enemies - every one of which is more gribbly than guardsmen.

I put together a 1500 point list of Cadians for a three game set. It's not perfect but it's what I'm using.

This list combines a veteran mech-melta squad with a big infantry platoon. I tossed in some of my favorite Leman Russes for support. The Enginseer is part of my fluff and he's my avatar so he stays even though he doesn't really earn points about half the time. Just consider him my handicap.


HQs
Company Command Squad with Vox, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Weapons Team (Autocannon), Chimera HB 125
Techpriest with two technical servitors 75

Elites
None

Troops
Vet Sqd, 3 melta guns, Chimera HF 155

Infantry Platoon (565 points total)
Command Squad with Vox, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Weapons Team (Autocannon), Chimera HB 105
Infantry Squad with Commissar (Bolt Pistol, Power Weapon), Vox, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Weapons Team (Autocannon), SGT 115
Infantry Squad with Grenade Launcher, Heavy Weapons Team (Autocannon), SGT 65
Infantry Squad with Commissar (Bolt Pistol, Power Weapon), Vox, Heavy Weapons Team (Heavy Bolter), SGT 110
Infantry Squad with Heavy Weapons Team (Heavy Bolter), SGT 60
Infantry Squad with Heavy Weapons Team (Heavy Bolter), SGT 60
Special Weapons Squad with three flamers 50

Fast Attack
None

Heavy Support
LR Vanquisher with Knight Commander Pask, HB, HB Sponsons 225
LR Demolisher HB 165
LR Executioner HB 190

TOTAL: 1500 points

Summary:
3 Tanks (1 Demolisher Siege Cannon + HB, 1 Executioner Plasma Cannon + HB, 1 Vanquisher Battle Cannon + 3 HB at BS 4)
3 Chimeras ( 3 Multi-Lasers, 2 HB, 1 HF)
4 Autocannons
3 Heavy Bolters
0 Lascannons
3 Meltas
4 Grenade Launchers
3 Flamers + 1 Vehicle mounted Heavy Flamer
0 Plasma guns
2 Power Weapons (Commissars)

81 models (75 of them are infantry including 7 HW teams)

The tournament requires fully painted models so many players bring lots of vehicles and not much infantry. There will be skimmers but I don't have anything to deal with them other than a high volume of fire. I'm also weak in anti-cover, anti-invuln (hard for IG to get), and indirect fire capabilities. I've got some AV14 killers as well as 2+ AS killers. The big questions in my mind are whether I can pop enough enemy transport at a distance, what to do about Lootas/Devastators/Havocs/Broadsides at ranges beyond 36", and whether I can deal with deep strike CC armies.

Maybe I'll get three opponents with nice fluffy infantry armies?

It's been a while since I updated. I've been too busy playing games or cobbling together armies for those games.

I made it through the three game tournament with a bye, a crushing defeat against the overall tourney winner, and a decisive victory in the last game. More importantly, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot more about which units I like and dislike in a tournament style take-all comers environment. I saw a lot of very similar SM armies. It made me wonder if there aren't many good builds for SM.

I also fought an Apocalypse battle yesterday. That was my first Apoc clash and it was a barrel of fun. Six thousand points per side with four of us playing made for a workable game with lots of drama and entertainment value. It ended in a draw which was perfect. Everyone had fun and lots of triumphs and tragedies to inspire more collecting, building, and painting. I've even decided that eight Chimeras aren't enough. Valks and Vendettas suddenly look very appealing too.

For the battle, I elevated my stormtrooper sergeant to the position of Lord Inquisitor for a day. Now that's a promotion!

So he gets a new ride as part of the perks of the job!



Then he gets some new friends to be his retinue.



And then he ends up in a corner of hell in the Apocalypse game. Everyone on the enemy side (including Abaddon) wants to kill the newest Lord of the Ordo Malleus!!


This picture was taken before the Space Wolf drop pods and CSM teleporters filled the table corner with terminators, dreadnoughts, and other gribblies. Abbadon showed up too but got distracted by three sentinels.


At the end of the game, the fledgling Lord Inquisitor was still alive with just one servo skull (B3RT) still floating behind him. Praise the Emperor for Artificer Armor and Icon of the Just!!

I'm still working on odds and ends (damn melta gunners), but will begin my Hydra/Manticore project sometime after GW releases the new Chimera models on March 20th. My goal is to have a model that can switch back and forth between the two types of vehicles. I'm assuming that I'll need pins and magnets (maybe magnetic pins?).

Happy gaming!

sweet. i've not played in months...it needs to change!! :L

Imperial Monkey wrote:sweet. i've not played in months...it needs to change!! :L

You definitely need to play every once in a while. It helps to motivate you for the building and painting. I've got a two-man tournament coming up on April 3rd and that has inspired me to work on my Plasma Executioner, a Banewolf, two lascannon teams, and Marbo.

That may delay my Hydra/Manticore work...

Hmmmmm...I'm impressed u've stuck with guard all this time, i've collected them for half the time and am distraced by my blood ravens already :L

Imperial Monkey wrote:Hmmmmm...I'm impressed u've stuck with guard all this time, i've collected them for half the time and am distraced by my blood ravens already :L

I started IG back when The Eye of Terror campaign kicked off. I've actually had Orks since Rogue Trader but have never finished painting a full army of them. For some reason, I don't mind painting IG. It may be the armored vehicles...lots and lots of armored vehicles, but I have quite a bit of painted infantry too and I keep adding more. Now that I've figured out a simpified step-by-step painting process, the ordinary infantry go pretty quick. It helps that I only paint most figures to a tabletop standard at first and then go back from time to time to add more details.

The blog helps to motivate me too. I'm working on my Plasma Executioner this evening. Here's the "Before" shot.



I figure I can finish it in three hours. Maybe I'll post in-progress shots each hour. I'm going to use GW's latest camo scheme to see if I like it. It's a bit more lively than the one I use now. Tau Sept Ochre jumps out at you more than Graveyard Earth. I need to drill some barrels as well so perhaps I should count on four hours till complete?




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After the first hour, there's not much to report. I drilled out the plasma cannon and heavy bolter barrels and finished off the basecoat of Dark Angels Green.

Now I'm going to commit heresy and drybrush a heavy layer of Catachan Green on.



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Not much progress in 2 1/2 hours but at least I'm moving forward. I was out of some colors that I needed so I stuck with my standard camo pattern.

The first coat of camo is on and the track shoes are painted. Now it's time for a quick touchup of a few areas with Chaos Black and then we move to Boltgun Metal.


Right now I feel like the second slowest painter in the world.




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The Plasma Executioner is tabletop ready now except for the three heavy weapons (two plasma cannons, one heavy bolter). I also need to brown ink a couple of spots to make it match the rest of my force. It also needs some Forge World white IG decals. I like their white imperial eagles.

I will post pics tomorrow. It's not a work of art but it will be ready to slay the enemies of the Emperor during the April 3rd team tournament. Next will be my Marbo since I don't have all the pieces for my Banewolf yet.

It's just about noon on Sunday and I'm ready to finish the Executioner at a state of table top readiness. Unfortunately Dakka isn't loading pics right now. All that remains are the heavy weapons, decals, some Asurmen Blue Wash on the hatch vision blocks, some Testor's Window Maker in the drivers window, and I need to add more color to the plasma coils. I'm thinking Ice Blue over Enchanted Blue. It could also use some Baal Red Wash but I don't have any on hand.