Last year I began a long term project - Betalis III. Specifically the conflict from Imperial Armour 11 and collecting and painting all the forces required to play out the campaign in the book.
For those not familiar with the campaign it is set between the forces of the Imperium and the Eldar. The battle began when Eldar forces from Craftworlds Mymeara and Alaitoc along with the Void Dragons, Sky Raiders, and Sunblitz Brotherhood Corsair warbands entered the Betalis System in search of Irillyth's armour after its location had been verified by Mymeara's Farseers. The Eldar hoped to reactivate the armour and bring the Phoenix Lord to life in order to fight for the safety of the Eldar race once more. Initially smashing through the Imperial Navy orbital defense platforms and patrol craft, the Eldar soon descended upon Betalis III's surface while heavy war engines and reinforcements entered the world through its hidden Webway Nexus. However the Eldar encountered stiff resistance from the Imperial Guard, Space Wolves, and Collegia Titanica forces that were moved to reinforce the planet once it came under xenos attack.
This means I have to collect forces representing:
Forces of The Imperium:
6th Cadian Armoured Regiment
22nd Elysian Drop Troop Regiment
Bran Redmaw's Great Company
Legio Gryphonicus
Ordos Xenos
Eldar Alliance
Mymeara Craftworld
Alaitoc Craftworld
Void Dragons Corsairs
I'm not going to collect all the Corsair Warbands present on the planet instead just collecting the Void Dragons as they were the most numerous. Some artistic license will be used with the various forces to include models I really like even if they aren't explicitly mentioned as being present; Harlequins for example.
I'm also planning on building a custom arctic table to play the campaign scenarios on however that will be much later in the project.
I've already been working on this project for around 6 months but decided that I would keep a log here on Dakka. I also post pictures on my
facebook page.
The first scenario in the Campaign is a daring raid by Eldar Corsairs on an Imperial Communications Relay station. This requires 1000 points of Imperial Guard (maximum of 2 tanks) and 1500 points of Eldar (no restrictions). As I love the Imperial Guard I started with them. Unfortunately I started by painting their tanks so when taking the scenario restrictions into account I still don't have 1000 points yet (oops).
These are all pictures from when I painted the models. They are currently in the window of the Shrewsbury Games Workshop store so I've not been able to take any "proper" photographs yet.
The 6th Cadian Armoured Regiment
In chronological order so you can see the progress that was made...
An old Forgeworld Hydra I picked up cheap from a friend. The 6th Armoured were on Betalis III undergoing hostile environment training and were under equipped having just been on campaign already. It was sheer luck that they were on the planet when the Eldar attacked. As such most of the vehicles weren't properly repainted for the arctic conditions and the camo was hasty at best.
My first attempt at white-wash camo using hairspray. Didn't go quite to plan as I used too much and the white paint came off far too easily.
Easily fixed though with some gentle respraying. Add in some oil paints and the result is quite good. This will be one of 3 Hydras in a squadron - I have a Forgeworld Hydra kit (minus top-plate) from the same friend in my bits box waiting for a Chimera chassis. The third one I'l;l have to try and source on eBay.
After painting a tank I decided to have a go at the infantry. I'm using the Forgeworld Hostile Environment Cadian torsos for the entire army and decided to keep representing the fact that the Regiment hasn't been properly resupplied when the war broke out by mixing up both temperate and arctic fatigues.
Here are the push-fit test figures...
The Command Squad Primed.
The Commander was kit bashed with some Scions parts I had left over as well as a HE Tank Commander.
The next few pictures show some of the various stages in painting the infantry.
Pre-Shading:
Washes:
Gloves, Boots, Guns and Lenses:
Details and Weathering:
Some of the Command squad and others just before getting finished off:
Everybody together (sorry it's blurry).
At this point I have a Command Squad, an Infantry Platoon, a Hydra and a couple of Cyclops Demolition Teams (I don't have any pictures of just them).
Having just finished painting over 30 Guardsmen I reward myself with a tank.
OK so it's not just a tank. It's a Super-Heavy Tank. I didn't start an Armoured Regiment becuse I like painting Russes (although I do) I did it for the biggest of big guns!
I don't have many
WIPs of this guy as I painted him pretty much in 2 nights as I was really excited.
I loved painting this tank. I got to play with some AK Interactive winter streaking grime which is amazing stuff.
Now there is a bit of a gap here and I'll explain why: My local
GW store was holding a painting competition where you could display any
40k army in an 18"x18" space. The 2 winners as decided by public vote would be put in the store display case for a few months. I had a few days off work before the event so I painted up 2 Leman Russ Vanquishers and based all my infantry. I did it so fast I forgot to take any good pictures of the models. The only pictures I have of the entire army together are from the day of the event.
I came in second and the army has been sat in the store window for a few months now which is why I can't get any decent pictures of them yet
The Imperiums enemies never rest and neither can I. Taking some more knackered Chimeras and some old
FW upgrades from my friends bits box I set about converting up a Salamander.
As you can see it's all seen better days. Most of the conversion is the back of a Hellhound without the fuel tanks plus some bits from the Baneblade kits and a lot of plasticard.
Some refinements with green stuff and alot of sanding plus a quick coat of paint and it's looking a lot better.
I'm actually planning to use it as a Command Vehicle rather than a Scout and give it some camo netting once it's painted.
Not pictured but still waiting for any paint are 2 more Russes, 3 Chimeras, another 10 infantry, and about 40 Kasrkins. I'm planning on buying an Armoured Sentinel Squadron as well as a full set of Tarantulas (3 Heavy Bolter, 3 Lascannon) in the nearish future as these (along with some of the infantry) will be used to fulfill the 1000 points for the first scenario.
It's at this point that I start to pay attention to the Eldar. Entirely by coincidence my local store as a painting contest for the Harlequin Solitaire. Now nothing in
IA11 says the Harlequins were present however nothing says they weren't and they are known to appear wherever Corsairs pop-up. Excuses made I set about painting...
Week one...
Week two...
Week three...
week four.
This guy sets the precedent of Eldar being painted using non-metallic metals. As I'll have far less of them to paint than the Imperium it's not a huge time problem and gives me an opportunity to practice the technique a lot (this is my first ever attempt). The Eldar forces will be far cleaner in style than the Imperium although the Space Wolves will be getting a different treatment to the Guardsmen just so they can be singled out as being more elite and better equipped.
This brings me up to the present day! That was a lot of pictures for one post wasn't it? Hopefully that won't happen again as I update in real time now.
The next post should be a completed Salamander Command Vehicle but that might take a while as I have a commission on the go and need to finish up a couple of armies for sale as well as having a bunch of Night Goblins to paint for Warhammer Quest... Yeah I keep busy but hopefully it's won't be too long.
