So, after over 10 years dropping out of the hobby due to a serious health issue, and more than a year skulking around the Dakka forums, I decided to jump back in.
There's a bunch of reasons for this. For one, I just really missed it. We can all be honest that
GW is miles from being perfect (to put it mildly) but the amount that I missed it all, the modeling, the painting, the lore and the world and even the community, was intense. I'm in a lot better place health wise now, i have a better source of income (at least better than waiting for birthdays, christmases and blowing savings as a kid!) and for all we like to complain,
GW has been on a slow improvement as of late, both from their practices and the models themselves. At least enough to lure me back.
I used to be a 'Nid player and collector, but my eye has been taken by the new Deathwatch line of models. I was always more about the models than the actual gaming, and whilst it seems downright silly and ironic coming from a 'Nid player, I always liked the idea of individuality and uniqueness of each model, rather than just amasing a horde of identical models, and so the Deathwatch seem a perfect starting point for me. Even something as simple as the varying chapter badges adds a lot to distinguishing each figure, and I really love that. Plus, I just reaaaally dig the lore, and seems like a great opportunity to have some fun with the fluff (and a great excuse to dip into buying some models of the various xeno races to make up some foes for them to slay!)
Anyhow, I saw a lot of folks keep Project Logs on here, and figured it would be a good way to keep me chugging along!
Kill Team Alaric of the Astral Steppes Watch Fortress (Ghoul Stars):
I'm far more interested in the modeling and just what looks/seems cool to me than game meta or what not (what games I will be playing are mostly in house with friends and tend to be more narrative goof off fun than strict rule adhering) and so my guys aren't particularly built with Points or the current Meta in mind and more what I wanted them to have
My currently unnamed Silver Skulls Sergeant, Black Shield Elias and Dark Angels Deathwing Vet Castiel:
Sergeant:
I really dig some of the less well known Chapter choices as Chapter Pad choices, so I knew I had to make my Sergant a Silver Skulls vet. I knew I wanted him to have the very cool Xenophase sword from the get go - making the Silver Skulls choice even better given their experiences with Necrons- and I ended up pairing it with an Inferno Pistol to give him some uniqueness from the rest of the squad. (I realise the scope on the IP is pointless, but I think it looks cool!
) I also stuck on a piece of Blood Angels fluff that came with the Inferno Pistol I grabbed off ebay - the equipment pouches, vial and goblet- to represent infield prognostication, given his Chapter's respect and use of symbols, omens and portents (I know it's the chapter's Librarians that are the real 'prognosticators' but I can imagine the entire chapter practicing certain rituals and traditions of soothesaying and other predictive 'mysticism'!)
Black Shield:
My general idea for this guy is he is one of The Fallen in hiding, who fled in loyalty when the corruption of the Dark Angels took place, fearing that his connection to his Fallen bretheren would damn him in the eyes of his Chapter despite his true unwavering loyalty to the galaxy, and so he sought out the fabled Deathwatch. I have a general love of glaves, halberds and other bladed staff weapons, so i gave him a Nemisis Force Halberd counting as a regular Force Weapon and Storm Shield, cause shields are cool (as well as a holstered pistol just for detail. The incense burner on his weapon is just for fluff, I think it looked cool and I had the
DA Vets sprues so I had a bunch of them, but fluff wise I like to imagine he prepares a range of herbs, spices and chemicals that has negative effects on whatever xeno foe he is facing, deseminating a haze of toxic holy smoke as he cleaves through the battlefield
Dark Angels Vet:
Given the background for my
BS (and my
DA sprue) a Dark Angels vet was obvious, for some inter-squad drama (though I imagine they instantly form a kinship and work extremely well on the field). I don't know why - I think his right pauldron might actually be for Termies- but he ended up coming out very beef and menacing looking compared to my other Vets - fitting I guess for someone hefting a power maul- so I like to imagine he's one of the older Vets of the Watch Fortress. Also you can see a little bit of the damage I did to his right Pad and why I generally hate mold line trimming, as I either miss stuff entirely - like the entirity of his Power Maul arm, although the camera makes it look worse than it is- or I got too far and end up damaging the model. Sigh.
Squad Vets:
(Novamarine, Ultramarine, Red Talons, Raptors)
Whilst I love model uniqueness, especially with Game Meta and minmaxing, I find your squads can end up looking unrealistic for their purpose, so I wanted a bunch of my squad to have the default Bolt Pistol/Melee weapon combo. I was going to give them all power swords because they are cool as hell/ I generally hate chainsword, but given the Raptor Chapter's speciality with Jungle Warfare the chainsword i had from old bits seemed appropriate (plus it mixed up the model's pose a bit in a way I really like, the broad swipe makes him look very dynamic). The Ultramarine Vet has a helmet and pad from the Upgrade pad and the Red Talon has the Exterminatus Power Sword Arm from the Captain Artemis sprue from the Death Masque Boxset (more on that later) Other than that, nothing too special on these dudes.
Heavy Squad Vets:
(Black Guard, Iron Hands, Salamanders)
I know going for 2 Infernus over the two Frags might seem silly, but again I ain't too fussed on meta, I generally LOOOVE fire and flamers (I almost started a Salamander's army before I dropped out of the hobby) and I think they look super cool. Added some canisters from the
DA vet sprue to the Salamander's back pack to house some holy flame once painted to give it some nice detail, and the Iron Hand uses the figure from the Overkill boxset as it's base that i managed to pick up to add some variety to the model (An Iron Hand Vet without some body augmentation ala a vanilla model from the box doesn't look all that right!)
Stalker Pattern Vets:
(Mentors, Knights of the Raven)
Thanks to the few replacement bodies in my squad, and the general abundance of bitz in the
DW Kill Team box, I was able to kit up a few extra dudes, my inspiration coming from the fluff on the Mentors Chapter in the Deathwatch codex, given their fondness for working alone and their role in solo missions, so I decided to model any Stalker Pattern Bolter vets as their own single specialized unit, for early infiltration and recon missions, before laying the teleport beacons and mission intel for the main kill team. My intention is to model at least a third, because 3 always looks better than two
Unnamed Knights of the Raven Stalker Vet:
Probably my favourite model so far. I was rather disappointed with the default Reload Pose for the Stalker Bolter Vet in the Kill Team (Ala my Mentor vet). I've always found those poses extremely static and whilst give some nice variety to the model poses, don't really capture the movement and combat of the rest of the models. Luckily with a clean cut of a
DW arm I wasn't using, an old "holding" arm from the older Space Marine Squad sprue that I had, and the Bolter Mag trimmed off an old Bolter from the same sprue, and I had a nice, dynamic, loaded Stalker Pattern Boltgun with little fuss and no need for green stuff!
WIP Alaric Kalos, Watch Captain (Formerly of the Minotaurs):
Using the Watch Captain Artemis model from the Death Masque boxgame that my friend gave me as a base. Ignore the large seem in his chest, he's currently held together with bluetac. Waiting on a part to arrive for his left arm (a
FW hand flamer - not very useful metawise but again, I love flamers!) then I'm gonna fit his Xenophase weapon (The Xenophase Blade head fitted to the Minotaur Themed Force Spear from the
FW Asterion Moloc model, and his shield, which I plan to fit the the arm of the Flamer arm)
WIP Unnamed Wolf Bro:
I also got given the Space Wolf Marine model from the Overkill box, and with a bunch of bits left over I figured to do something with him. Changed his head and added a blade to his otherwise empty scabbard (Seeing I wasn't using the blade arm from the sprue). Plan to mock up another Space Wolf as well as another soldier from bit's i have - maybe a Black Templar- with the general idea of their combative and anti authority/stubbornness nature having them work kinda like scouts in general Space Marine armies, running recon, making initial attacks, protecting the Stalker Marines etc etc til they either find a place in the Deathwatch or wash out (it's mostly from a place of just being extremely anal about stuff, as the Aquila figure doesn't have the teleport homer of the standard
DW Marines and I don't have any spares to custom onto his backpack as of yet!)
Got a Vanguard Veteran squad to dig into next, want to get them done before I try my hand at painting.
Anyhow, this is extemely early days, but i'm rather excited to be getting back into things!
