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Yep, I may pump the brakes on finalizing these builds and just play my Sisters in a Castellans list with a few painted bikes and scouts until the new rules drop. Overall I'm optimistic, hoping that White Scars drop with a few flavorful options and get more in a near-future release.

I like how the gatling gun on that scout speeder looks like it has a silencer on it. "Stealth"

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
I like how the gatling gun on that scout speeder looks like it has a silencer on it. "Stealth"

Stealth brrrrrrrrrrt. I snagged those from the Ravenwing sprue I think. I have enough for all of my Landspeeders... I was all about the Assault Cannon in 7th, but now I may have to think about double Heavy Flamers as a way to dish out a high RoF in 8th.

My wife and I are packing for a move... so there's going to be a gap in my gaming life. I was hustling to close out some long-running projects before I had to break down my hobby apparatus and load it for the transition.

This is the second terrain project I've done for my local GW store. The first was a pretty straightforward pair of tiered hills in pink insulation foam. For this one I got a little more ambitious and attempted a ruined temple. There was a lot more detailed blade work on this one. I'm not sure I love the battle damage, but I'm glad I tried it. They're unfinished, because the manager at the GW wants to paint them into some scheme he's got. Overall, I'm pretty pleased.

I should mention that, like the last one, this piece is sized to fit the back of the glass display cases at GW. Also like the last one, I failed to take a photo of it installed when I dropped it off. Maybe next time I'm over there he'll have painted it up and I can snap a photo through the glass.

So I've been completely distracted by the new edition and the tactics forum, but I have been hobbying! I didn't want to move forward with either the Sisters or the White Scars until I'd had some games under the new rules. In the meantime I'm trying to quickly knock out some terrain for a home 4x4 table. Here's the first few steps:

I rough cut the bases and walls from half-inch insulation foam with a hot wire cutter and a steak knife:


Cleaned and assembled them with wood glue:


Detailed some with cork grit in different sizes:


Detailed others with a mix of cork and gravel:


Detailing materials on trays:


Detailed bases with basecoat of 50/50 acrylic paint and PVA glue:


Up next: basecoating a bunch of metal (plastic) wreckage to scatter around, plus drybrushing the terrain pieces:


And, because I'm getting some games in, a photo from a recent matchup against Dark Eldar (or whatever they trademarked them as):

All four pieces based (although I think I need one more drybrushing to match the table tiles). Next step: paint, wash, and rust effects for all that twisted metal before gluing a few bits to each piece, plus weeds and dead leaves scattered around.

Nice work on the terrain. How’d the game go?

I played two that night. I scored a dominant victory over a Tyranids list with a Trygon, Carnifex, Patriarch, and about 50 Genestealers... I positioned myself to intercept the little bugs with bolters and flamers and had them wiped out in turn one, but struggled with the big bugs.

Vs. Dark Eldar it was an even matchup. Both our transports proved resilient. I had the edge in ranged combat and he was stronger in melee. Interestingly, Celestine spent the whole game engaged with the Archon and that 2++ that lasts until he takes a wound. He wasn't rolling any 1s, and Celestine kept resurrecting her friend, so it went on and on. Fought that one to a mutually agreed draw... we had scored the same number of kill points and we agreed that the game would probably go to whichever HQ walked away from the endless melee.

In general, the Sisters are performing well this edition!

I finished one of the four new terrain pieces... the metal wreckage takes a while to detail, and I'm still learning how some of the technical paints work, so it will be a slow process. I'm also trying to match the bases I've already finished while cutting some of the steps in the process in the interests of time.

The terrain pieces, as I posted on earlier, are half-inch insulation foam shaped with hot cutters, Xacto blades, and steak knives, glued with wood glue, and painted with a mix of PVA glue and acrylic paint. The rubble is a combination of cork and railroad gravel. The "metal" is all styrene from Evergreen Scale Models except for the corrugated sheets, which are stamped foil. All of the metal wreckage was sprayed with Leadbelcher, washed with Typhus Corrosion, Highlighted with Necron Compound, and stippled with Ryza Rust, a process that I have yet to perfect. The tufts of dead grass and the leaf littler are from Green Stuff World, the same supplier as the cork.



I think I need better lighting... sorry if the pictures aren't up to Dakka standards.

Nice! The metal looks fine. I’ve always been daunted by weathering.

As for “Dakka Standards” sure there are lot of nice, well lit, in focus pictures in the gallery. But there are also more then plenty of blurry shots in bad light taken with potatocams. You are well above average here.

I have a game coming up soon and I'll be playing Scions with plasma guns, a potent force in this new edition. I didn't want to drop the hammer on my opponents with a half-assed counts-as half-painted contingent of plasma spam, so I'm pushing hard to get these guys ready. I had a couple squads of Cadian Kasrkin stormtroopers from back in the day. I'm using Forge World's "Hostile Envirnment" trooper torsos to match them. The helmets and respirator masks are a good match, the poses are cool, and the castings are (mostly) clean and crisp.

I added Green Stuff kneepads to all of the Cadian and Catachan legs to match the Kasrkin.


The lasgun models needed armored gloves as well, which I made from Green Stuff and styrene card.


Four units of plasma Scions with plasma "sergeants" ready for paint and bases, which are ready to go.


I did the bases as a big batch mounted with PVA glue onto a paint stirrer. The base detail is a combination of cork and gravel glued down with PVA, then a Mechanicus Grey spray basecoat, Terminatus Stone drybrush, White Scar highlight, and Agrax Earthshade wash. A few of them got some Agrellan Earth, Agrellan Badlands, and Astrogranite Debris just to see what those technical paints are all about.

The plasma Scions are quickly coming together for a 2000 point game on Saturday. Two squads (max plasma) are nearly done (gotta do a little bit of skin tone work on the unmasked sergeant... or is he red in the face from barking orders?), two more squads (also max plasma) are mounted on detailed bases but still need more paint, and the last two squads (double melta, double flamer) are basecoated but still need paint and bases.

Here's a chance to compare my classic Kasrkin with my newly acquired Forge World "Hostile Environment" troopers. I'm pretty happy with the similarities. The face masks are key, and I wouldn't have wanted to try to build those freehand. The kneepads and armored gloves I built of green stuff and styrene card are adequate... not perfect, but I think the outcome scales with the amount of effort I put in. Once they are all deployed in mixed units I don't anyone will be able to tell at a glance that there are 20-year-old OoP models mixed in with brand new FW.

The old commissar and officer models are really cool, but a bit off. I stripped them (photos earlier in this log) of some old and terrible paint and I'm eager to get them back on the table. I don't love the way their arms are slightly out of scale or the limitations on their poses courtesy of a shallow bits box, but it works, it's WYSIWYG, and it'll be ready for Saturday.

On another note, I'm really pleased with a new personal best: this is the fastest I've ever selected, sourced, acquired, built, converted, painted, and based a unit for play. Like by a lot. Like measured in weeks instead of decades. Like those Kasrkin have been kicking around in bare metal for twenty years, and they're going to drop into play with fully painted and based models that I've owned for just over a month. I give the credit to a really good group, a solid new edition, and a lowering of my personal standards.

Classic Kasrkin with an old-school Guard officer as sergeant:


New Forge World "Hostile Environment" troopers with an old-school Commissar as sergeant:

Wow, lots going on... I based about 40 models in the last few weeks, detailed some HQ and Elite units, and played some great games. Here's a quick rundown.

I ripped my entire army off their bases and touched up feet and robes.


I mass produced bases by gluing them (PVA glue) to paint stirrers.






The I had three trays of these awaiting glue.


Some updated models, shown on the terrain pieces I've been working on.




And finally, a really fun game against a great friend and opponent and his gribbly-farming operation. That's my newly painted Penitent Engine there left of center taking on a whole mess o' bugs. I still need to take photos of that one.

It's been a long time since I last updated, so there's a lot to share. There's a few action photos at the bottom from recent games.

The Penitent Engine has been done for a while, I just never got around to photographing it.


The Penitent's base shows the direction I'm headed... gravel, dried mud, dead grass, and industrial rubble.


Celestine and friends are underway, with a lot of work ahead. Definitely happy with these bases and the overall adaptation of the color scheme.


Seraphim with Inferno pistols from The Reliquary, an online 3D designer on Shapeways.


My Inquisitorial detachment is underway with Greyfax and another Inquisitor.


A better photo of my old Kasrkin as Inquisitorial stormtroopers.


Bullgryns in thrall to the Inquisition.


My next project: a Repressor upgrade with 3D printed components from Zefig, a Dakka poster with a Shapeways catalog.


A pretty sweet photo of my deployment opposite a Turn 1 Genestealer Cult ambush. Between my Vanguard moves and some cheap backfield screens I managed to push back the range of the ambush and keep my guns in play. It was a close win for the Imperials.


The Sororitas position in the elevated ruins at the center of the table.

Very pumped to have gotten started on the first of three MDF terrain kits from Promethium Forge. I'll post pics a few at a time as I go.

Nice selection of stuff. I need to pick up more terrain myself, but it always looses out to more shiny models.

Looking forward to seeing you get more paint on stuff.

Like the use of the shapeways products. How do you find it to use?

 IGtR= wrote:
Like the use of the shapeways products. How do you find it to use?

None of the high profile pieces are done yet, so the jury's still out, but so far it's looking pretty good. I imagine it all depends on vendor. The 'heavy transport" upgrade and accompanying flamer turret from Zefig will be great for Repressors, but they'll need a little sanding before paint... there's definitely a slight geometric texture to them from the printing process. I'm one-and-one with stuff from The Reliquary... the "human sized thermal injector pistols" are perfect Seraphim scale inferno pistols, but the bits I ordered to turn some of my heavy flamers into heavy bolters were too small and would need a fair bit of wire armature and green stuff work to fit the model. The customer service and shipping from Shapeways has been fine, no problems there. There's a ton of good looking 30k and 40k stuff on there, just not much for Sisters.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Nevelon wrote:
Nice selection of stuff. I need to pick up more terrain myself, but it always looses out to more shiny models.

Looking forward to seeing you get more paint on stuff.

I'm of a similar mind... I'd always choose a model I needed for a list before building up my home table, but then it's a little sad to host an occasional game. You might like this Prometheum Forge stuff... the "horizontal fuel tanks" kit is $10, makes two tanks, and went together with CA glue in the time it took me to drink the two beers. I'm going to base the frame in silver spray, the tanks in antique white, douse the whole thing in Agrax Earthshade, streak some Typhus Corrosion, and add a few paint chips and rust spots. I have three other kits behind this one, and collectively it should be enough to cover my 4x6 table in a non-embarrassing way. I'm around $100 for the whole project... including 4 MDF kits, 4 rattle cans, new super glue, and a 12-pack.

I put together another kit... technically three kits: one makes the two can towers, one makes the bridge that connects them, and one makes the two walkway sections on either side. I had envisioned the combination as forming an industrial bridge over a shallow gully on my old Citadel Realms of Battle boards, so I couldn't help dragging a few of them out to test the fit. My new bridge spans the gap, but I think I'll need some foam risers on either end to reduce the slope of the ramps if I ever want my Seraphim to land on them.



I actually have one kit yet to build (the vertical tanks with spiral stair x2), but those can wait for now... if I can get the infant and the toddler to sleep at the same time, it's time to paint so I can finish assembly.





You can see the colors I've chosen on the end of the table... antique white for the storage tanks, institutional green for the bridge, concrete gray for the bridge pylons, and light blue for the vertical tanks, which I'll be using as watch towers for either end of the bridge.

Okay, a quick update on the painting. I got it all done in twice the time I'd thought it would take, and I'm mostly happy with the outcome. Where there's a few smudges or fingerprints, I just shrug and remind myself that it will all get fatigued and corroded and chipped to tie in with my "abandoned frontier settlement" vibe I'm chasing.

I'm happy with the colors I chose. The gray should weather nearly to black. The green should tone down to somewhere between a military olive drab and an institutional sea foam, which should make a good backdrop for the weathering. Not sure yet about the blue, but I think I'll give it a go, just in the name of variety. The only dud was the antique white... I tried a semi-gloss paint + primer and it did NOT cover well. I tried semi gloss because I thought it invoked modern propane tanks I thought it would highlight the rust and corrosion. It took twice as many coats as the others and it never did get fully opaque. Once I realized it wasn't covering adequately, I should've re-primed with white and gone over it again. The potential problem is that those tanks have the tightest fit into the rings of the MDF kit, so I'll probably have to sand down the frame like crazy. The metallic silver I chose is a little sparkly, but I didn't want to burn a $15 can of Leadbelcher, and I think I can knock down enough shine with Agrax and Typus Corrosion.

A note on the cans... I wish I'd stripped or sanded them more thoroughly. I sanded mine a bit just to create texture for the paint to adhere to. The can graphics were tough to block out completely, so it took more coats than I'd hoped. Also, if you use cans of carbonated water, you can keep them full for the entire process and be way less likely to dent them. Mine got a little crushed with all the handling.

I'm going to try thinned down acrylic pigment instead of Agrax and Nuln... I think it'll look okay and be cheaper to do in large volume. I'll do the main wash before I finish assembly, and then the detail work once everything is together.

Questions, comments, and suggestions welcome!

The MDF fuel storage tanks kit is mostly done. I ended up replacing the cans I'd sprayed with semi-gloss antique white because they were too bulky from the multiple layers it took, and a little tacky to boot. I was already going to have to sand down the frame to accept the cans, so I drank a few more beers and painted up a few more cans in flat off-white. I used a dish sponge to apply Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion to the tops, then dribbled Agrax Earthshade and Seraphim Sepia down the sides. I wish I'd left the white of the can a little more pure... they got muddy from repeated ink washes. For a high speed kit assembly and fairly reckless painting, I'm really happy with them.


My biggest takeaway is the cans will be a tight fit, much more so than any of the other kits I've used. I used 150-grit sandpaper wrapped around a smaller diameter can to widen the frame, especially because I didn't want to scrape off all the paint in final assembly. Another option is to cut the rings on the bottom to allow them to flex, but that might change stability.

Here's the pair... they may eventually get detailed bases. My home board is moving in the direction of a bleak, cold, rugged land (using my old Realms of Battle boards) covered in aging, rusting, post-industrial ruins. These rusting fuel tanks will be part of a research camp or prospectors' depot; I'm building a little machine shop, similarly weathered, to sit nearby, and my can-tower bridge (also from Promethium) will span the gully in which they all sit.
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I think they hit the look you were aiming for. Nice job!

I'm making a move on repainting 8 Realms of Battle boards... 4 of them look okay, but the 8 don't match. While I had them out to see what I had, I grabbed the terrain I've been working on. I realized I hadn't posted the most recent photo of the works in progress, namely the MDF kits from Promethium Forge. Here's a bridge (two can towers, the bridge platform, and two connectors), the double fuel tank kit, and a building I made using a photo storage box and some Promethium Forge upgrade parts. I'm pretty pleased with that little building, so I might put together another one and upload some photos of the process... really simple and super cheap.

So, I finally got a Repressor built and painted! There's another on the bench, and both the Rhino chassis and Repressor upgrade need lots more details, but I got it on the table last week regardless. The top plate and flamer turret are from Zefig's Shapeways shop, the rest of the guns and turret bits are from the Rhino sprue. The doors are Forge World resin. The dozer blade is classic IG tank stuff, and the fleur de lis on the dozer is actually stamped brass, so no paint there, just bent it to fit the curve of the blade and glued it down. I can mount a second flamer turret or a second stormbolter per the datasheet, but they both look too busy for the photo. I'm eventually going to build a manned (womanned?) turret for each with a Sister crewing the stormbolter, but I painted up some extra hatch pieces in the meantime.

Nice work. You looking forward to plastic? Sounds like it took every material available to make that one tank.

(Not that they will probably make a plastic repressor, but one can always dream)

 Nevelon wrote:
Nice work. You looking forward to plastic? Sounds like it took every material available to make that one tank.

(Not that they will probably make a plastic repressor, but one can always dream)

I wasn't sure if I wanted to wait and see or not, but I decided to got for it with these. I really wanted to get a couple Repressors on the table, as it seems like they make the difference between middle tier and (maybe) lower end of top tier. Plus these components looked really cool. I could as easily use these as Immolators if an amazing Repressor kit gets added, but I'm not holding my breath. But yes, I'm incredibly psyched for plastics! My goal is to get all of my metal painted by then... probably around 3000-3500 points worth.

So, today's the kickoff for a big project: refinishing 8 Realms of Battle boards I got from a local shop. They were easy to come by because half of them had been repainted and the other half flocked, and none of it looked great due to wear and tear. I need them to match each other and my army bases and scenery scheme, so here we go...

Day 1: Stripping paint. Not off to a great start. I have always used Simple Green to strip paint, but I've mostly worked with metal minis (my Sororitas army) and usually let something sit in a tank of it for weeks at a time. Something stronger might have been called for today, but I'll have to wait and see. Maybe a couple of hours will do the trick... they're soaking in Simple Green in a very smelly garage right now.

good luck man

 alabamaheretic wrote:
good luck man

Thanks, I'll take whatever luck I can get... and I see now this is going to take luck, skill, physical sacrifice, and perhaps the intervention of the God-Emperor of Mankind.

So, I'm about four hours in, and this is a way bigger job than I'd anticipated. There's way less paint coming off than I'd hoped, and there's way more crappy flock on these boards than I'd realized. It appears to have been put on with some kind of industrial spray adhesive. I put in two full hours of scrubbing HARD with a grout brush, plus some scraping with a plastic putty knife. Of the flocked boards (5 of the 8), it came off of the four matching brown ones with some effort. On the fifth, the dark green one, they had spray painted over the flock, making it nearly impossible to remove.

My only hope is that if it can weather the scrubbing I just imposed, it will hold texture and paint as well as I move forward. For that matter, the paint seems extremely well adhered to the plastic, so I'm just going to prime and paint over it. I don't have another day for this project, and I may not be able to move tomorrow... this killed my shoulders and back.

Now to haul them upstairs and rinse them in a hot bath... maybe followed by one for me.