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+++ The battle for Istvaan V was over in a matter of hours. The moment our former brothers turned their guns upon my wounded and battered men, it was no longer a battle. It was a slaughter, like livestock being butchered. The slaughter of Istvaan V lasted for three months. And it would not end until every last raven lay bleeding in the black sand of that cursed planet. - Chaplain Ovidius Felix, 7th Chapter +++

Welcome to my first (hopefully successful) P&M Blog.

A little background on the army. I have played 40k for about 5 years now with a variety of armies over the years: Tau, CSM, DE, and my current Nid army. However, I've always had a soft spot for the Horus Heresy. Even as far back as 2012 when I first joined dakka, I had the inkling to do some sort of heresy army to play 30k with. However, with FW prices the way they are and me being a student, it never felt like a realistic endeavor. That is until BAC came out. Finally I had access to heresy-era marines at a pretty solid price So the next question would be why RG? I've always liked the story about the battle for Istvaan V, and I seem to always find myself rooting for the underdog in most situations. RG seemed like the natural choice. Their tragic background is interesting (if sometimes a little TOO gothic), and I like their practical approach to war. Thus, with a new BAC box and a weak college internet connection, this blog was born.

But enough boring talk, let's get to the real purpose of this blog: the army. My goal is to represent the shattered remains of the RG left stranded on Istvaan V. Therefore, I want this army to look like it's been in a warzone for three months. Scratched and dented armor, bullet holes, burned and melted pieces, scavenged plates and weapons, rust, the whole nine yards. I don't want to overdo it to the point where you can no longer see who the marine used to be, but I'll toe the line at times.

So to start off the blog, here is my first model and current commander of the force: Chaplain-Brother Fleix.

It's a bit hard to tell from this picture, but I've tried to tear this model up in multiple places. Cuts and scratches over almost every surface of the armor, a bolter hole in the chest piece, a damaged helmet, and a broken crozius. I'm also planning to add a couple of scavenged armor pieces taken from the battlefield. Maybe a piece from the World Eaters and a piece from a dead Salamander? Plus a heavy dose of chipping and rust.

I'm hoping to have this guy base coated and ready for paint next week, if I can find time this weekend between work and school. I'd also love to hear suggestions on paint schemes or any other damage I can put on him.

Thanks for reading

HH raven guard and lives in Illinois? When did I start another plog?

All kidding aside I think this is a great idea and can't wait to see you start laying down some paint. As for scavenged armor parts in deliverance lost they seemed to take whatever they could get from the battlefield so any legion there is fair game imo

That Chaplain is looking great. Can't wait to see it painted (and from a few more angles). I await your uploading of the rest of models in the box, so do us all a favour and be quick about it!

I just want to make it known that I HATE it when people put rust on power armor. I'm pretty sure that ceramite which (judging from its name) is a ceramic material would not rust. That being said I absolutely LOVE heavily weathered marines and am all for rusty weapons and muddy armor.

That guy is looking good, I thought my Istvaan Marines were beaten up but this a a whole other level!

Looking forward to more!

Sounds like fun! Looking forward to seeing some paint.

Woot. Always good to see more HH blogs. Nice damage, especially the helmet brush thing.

EDC

Thank you for all the positive responses so far! I'll try not to disappoint.

 TheManWithNoPlan wrote:
That Chaplain is looking great. Can't wait to see it painted (and from a few more angles). I await your uploading of the rest of models in the box, so do us all a favour and be quick about it!

Well I can help you with that (the different angle at least, not the painting yet). Here's a second angle:

I like this angle because it shows off a couple nice places of damage. You can see the bolter hole and the broken weapon a bit better. Also this really highlights the deep gash on the left side of the chest. I'm planning on having the gash filled with some of the GW blood technical paint, which will hopefully act as almost a spot color on the otherwise mostly dark palate.

I'm off to enjoy the weekend at a conference. But hopefully I will return next week with a somewhat painted model.

UPDATE: PROGRESS!!

Despite school's best intention to wear me down, I actually got some paint on this week. Here is how the centurion currently stands:



I apologize for the picture quality. I really should set up a light box for these models, especially with all the black armor. But hopefully you can make out the details decently. Most of the armor is black to be normal RG armor. However the left leg is green and will become a Salamander piece of armor, the backpack and right vambrace are white for the WE, and the helmet is purple to match the EC scheme. I know that it is hard to tell, but the cloak is dark grey and does contrast with the armor a bit.

I'd love some feedback on the model as it stands right now. I know that it is lacking depth, that will hopefully come when i start highlighting and washing. Also, if anyone has any recommendations on taking pictures, I would really appreciate it. I am very lost on what to do to make the colors look more true in my pictures.

The next steps are to give everything some light highlights then add some damage to get the model looking gritty, like its been in combat for 50+ days. After that, I'll post another picture and get some more feedback hopefully. Then I can move on to some heavy washes and weathering.

Until next time.

The best advice I can give for pics is practice. Play with your camera's settings, the distance from the mini, the light, the background, just experiment until you find something that works. I'd suggest a non-white background, especially for black models it's going to kill the colours and just give you a black blob in the middle. Blue or grey work much better.

The second best advice I can give is download this free software and have a play, it can make almost any pic look better with a few button presses, clicks and sliders. I started using it myself only recently, and already it's working wonders!
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

RISE! RISE! RISE FROM THE DEAD INTO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING!!!

*cough* *cough* Right, now that that is out of the way, hello! This blog is back after a 5 month "hiatus" (also known as finishing school and traveling and being lazy in general). But now it's back, and I am ready to make some progress on my 30k armies.

Which is also another update. I have become a bit enthralled with 30k. In the interim since this blog was last updated I have picked up the beginnings of 2 more armies. I hope that these will not only provide me with some options when playing but also to help encourage others in my area to try it out. I'm hoping to convert some friends and local gamers to 30k so that we can have more variety and bigger battles. Speaking of which, if anyone knows of a 30k gaming group in Southern Ohio, PM me!

Back on topic, because of these changes this blog is going to become a hub for all of my 30k armies. Hopefully that will allow me some freedom to switch up what I post as well as keep this thread updated more often.

First up, of course, is my favorite legion: the RG

Not too much to update. I have based the contemptor and spray painted it white. Something went wrong with the spray paint, as you can see some bubbles around the head. But I will do my best with painting and try to cover any problems with sufficient weathering.


Second is the first of my two new armies. My RG army, being survivors of the Istvaan V massacre, is primarily massed infantry with a couple of dreads. So I wanted this second army to be the exact opposite: tanks and elite troops. Therefore I have chosen Iron Hands. The army will consist of 2 squads of immortals decked out with volkite weaponry loaded in 2 land raiders, a squad of gorgons with a iron father loaded in a Spartan, and 2 dreads. It will be small, elite, and pack a hell of a punch (hopefully!).

I've already picked up some immortals and the gorgons. Also mixed in there is a squad of dark furies for the RG army.


Third is the last 30k army: Imperial Militia. Having played nids for years, you'd think I would have had enough of horde armies. But nope! I got myself into another 100+ model army.
The idea for the army was sparked when GW decided to stop making the Empire militia kit. I picked up two boxes, and then it was too late. Here's how they currently stand:

I've got a mix of WHF empire, chaos cultists, genestealers cultists, and frostgrave cultists. My goal for this army is to make it look like the dregs of society that live in hive cities: miners, factory workers, scribes, farmers, security, etc. All poor people who have finally had enough for the crushing rule of the imperium. Whether they will still be loyal or traitors... that is still up in the air.


I know that this isn't much of an update. But I wanted to put something on this thread before I got back into the swing of things. I'm hoping the mix of RG, IH, and militia will keep me motivated and be interesting for you dakkites. Next up will be to begin painting the RG dread. After that, who knows. At some point I am going to have to start kitbashing my aprox. 150 cultists. But considering building is one of my favorite parts of the hobby, I may save that for after I finish painting the RG I have.

Thanks for reading!